Luxury Insights

WSJ: Developer Courts the Global Elite

Interesting story in today's Wall Street Journal looks at "One57" -- a new condo development that targets the world's ultra-affluent and will be the tallest residential tower in NYC.  

Designed by French architect Christian de Portzamparc, One57's 95 condos for sale have a combined price tag of $2 billion, or an average per unit of more than $21 million, which would match Manhattan's 15 Central Park West as the most expensive building ever sold.

While a hallmark of the economic downturn has been the collapse of the housing market, the extreme top of residential markets in New York, London, Hong Kong and other select cities has been resilient.

Mr. Barnett says the number of billionaire and multimillionaire investors in the world has never been greater. In addition to Russians and Western Europeans, he says, "you're seeing Latin Americans in a big way. You're seeing Chinese in a big way. You're seeing the return of the Middle Eastern buyer."

Thanks to this demand, the ultraluxury market in select cities is looking healthier than practically any other corner of the housing market.

WSJ.com: Developer Courts the Global Elite

Candyland sold for $85 million cash

You might remember our earlier post about the sale of Candy Spelling's LA mansion on the market for $150 million.  Well, today the LA Times has more details on the transaction, which is reported to have sold to British socialite Petra Ecclestone for $85 million in an all cash deal. 

Luxury market increasingly built with BRICs

 

Interesting article in this morning's Wall Street Journal by Candice Jackson.  It is a great overview of the luxury market trends around the world and highlights the growing influence wealthy buyers from the BRIC countries in the luxury residential market here in the U.S. and around the world.  

Here's a snippet of what Jackson has to say about these markets:

NEW YORK:

According to Jonathan Miller, CEO of appraisal and consulting firm Miller Samuel, foreign buyers make up 15% to 20% of all home sales in Manhattan. They're particularly strong buyers of thoroughly renovated or newly built condos priced at several million dollars or more. Pamela Liebman, president and CEO of New York-based brokerage Corcoran Group, says that in the first quarter of this year, nearly 20% of new condo sales at Corcoran went to foreign buyers. 

PARIS:

The Paris real-estate market is booming, driven in part by the high prices foreigners are willing to pay. In the "Golden Triangle"—the tony area near the Champs-Élysées—apartment prices rose 38% in the last year, according to the Paris Notary Chamber. For Paris apartments costing over $2.8 million (€2 million), three foreigners buy into the market for every one foreign seller, says Charles-Marie Jottras, president of the Daniel Féau network of real-estate agencies.

HONG KONG:

China's housing boom spilled over to Hong Kong, where property prices have surpassed previous historic highs and are now some of the highest in the world. According to property agency Savills, Hong Kong's homes are 52% more expensive than London's—and 111% more than New York's.

LONDON

According to Liam Bailey, head of residential research at real-estate agent Knight Frank, London's ratio of international to domestic buyers for prime real estate is the highest of any major city in the world. According to his report last month, 64% of buyers of central London homes priced over $8.1 million (£5 million) are foreign—"the highest of any major city, without a doubt"—and probably the highest it's ever been, Mr. Bailey says.

These days when you follow the money, it increasingly leads you to the BRICs...

WSJ.com article: The New Global City

Will and Kate – Above the Clouds

We’ve joined this week’s royal wedding hoopla with the question:

 If Will and Kate ventured across the pond to buy a home,
what might be the perfect match for them?  

Currently the royal couple are nestled in a whitewashed farm house on the tiny windswept isle of Anglesey in NW Wales (rented for a bargain £750 a month) while William finishes his Royal Air Force tour of duty.  Then, one presumes, they’ll spend some time in the new 6-bedroom eco-friendly home Daddy (oops! That’s Prince Charles to us) has built on his 900 acre Herefordshire estate.  

But, if the young royals yearn for privacy, security and a bit of distance from family politics and royal pressures, we’ve surveyed our members and concluded that ILHM member Sharon Bateman of Pall Spera  Company has a perfect North American listing for Kate and Will -- Above the Clouds. Perched on massive rocks on Stowe, Vermont’s highest ground and featuring a dramatic rock ledge canyon approach, Above the Clouds is an 18,000 square foot, 15 acre property offering quiet elegance and local craftsmanship.

The approximately £8.82 million price ($16 million) would hardly put a dent in the royal coffers.  New York City, Boston and Montreal are just short flights away and there’s ample room for Kate’s hats, Will’s Ducati bike, new heirs and the Royal Protection Squad.  

So, we join Sharon Bateman in issuing an invitation to the young royals, their “screeners,” and to Fleet Street (the UK Press) to schedule a showing! Please come (and don’t hold the revolution against us).

Check out the playlet Sharon’s team wrote imagining a conversation between Will and Kate:

Will and Kate In the Clouds (A one-act playlet)

Place: Interior of Balmoral Castle
Time: After the storybook wedding.

Will: (with amusement) I do wish we could get away from it all.
Kate: (an oblique smile) My little clotted cream. I too want to be where we can just muck around.
Will: How exactly do you mean?
Kate: Don’t be so vieux jeu.
Will: I didn’t read French at Oxford.
Kate: O, Wills, I want to pole a punt upstream with you in the bowseat, remember the Cherwell, picnic on the river, sip some fizz...get dirty. With soil, I mean.
Will: Yes, yes...(looks pensive). Can I give up the feel of marble underfoot…
Kate: (Pokes Will’s chest playfully) I want to show you something.
Will: (blushing) Oh?
Kate: (whips out her iPad, strums furiously across keyboard.) Look.
Will: (a tad disappointed) Oh!
Kate: (showing him the iPad) It’s in Stowe, Vermont. Look at that three-story living room and Bottocino marble everywhere. Sunken tub, Oh Wills, Henry VIII would fit comfortably.
Will: Quite stunning, Chamonix?
Kate: New England!
Will: Neeeeeew England? Where the Dickens is that?
Kate: Across the pond in the colonies! Above the Clouds, the name of the estate.
Will: (looking at iPad) An East and West wing! Magnificent views of the ski trails minutes away. Pops, ugh…dad, will love it. I love it, all 18,000 SFs of it. What is that in metric, love?
Kate: Did you say Pops?

 

 

Property photographs and details:
www.abovethecloudsvt.com
Property MLS information

U.S. record residential sale --$100 million

Russian billionaire buys Silicon Valley home

In a transaction which set a new record for most expensive U.S. residential sale, Russian billionaire Yuri Milner (who heads Digital Sky Technologies) has reportedly paid $100 million for a 25,500-square-foot Los Altos Hills (CA) home which was not even listed for sale.  According to The Wall Street Journal, the sellers, Fred and Annie Chan took back a $50 million note on the home.  

This record-setting sale is just one indication that the wealthy have opened their wallets and are shopping for homes again.  The million dollar and above housing market rose 4% in February year-over-year as luxury buyers snapped up homes, often for all cash. Earlier this month a Palm Beach (FL) home sold and closed for a reported $24.6 million.  The jump in luxury purchases is counter to the real estate resale trend in general.  In February, total residential sales dropped 2.8% as compared to February a year ago.     

Why the rise in luxury sales?  According to Laurie Moore-Moore, Founder of The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing, “The number of wealthy U.S. households is almost back to where it was before the downturn.  Add the fact that many affluent pulled money out of investments and have been waiting in the wings with cash in hand while deciding where to invest.  Residential real estate is now attracting many of these dollars.”  Moore-Moore goes on to say, “This bodes well for the luxury home market in the short term.  Luxury may well be the real estate segment that leads the recovery.”

More coverage on the sale:
Forbes
MSNBC

A peek into the world's most expensive apartments

This Al Jazeera video offers a quick peek into the ultra-expensive London apartment development One Hyde Park where one-bedroom apartments start at $10M and the penthouses go for more than $200M.

 

2010 - Best Marketing Campaign for a Property

2010 Marketing Awards:
Best Marketing Campaign for a Property

Winner:  Susan Lowe
Chase International, Lake Tahoe, NV

A $100 million dollar property represents a special marketing challenge.  You must target market effectively while maintaining the owners’ privacy.  Details about the property need to be limited to qualified prospects.

To acheive this, Susan Lowe and Shari Chase at Chase International created a marketing campain with three levels of marketing collateral, each with an increasing level of information and detail:

1. The first is for the public and casual enquires
2. The second for other agents and not-yet-qualified prospects
3. The third is limited to serious prospects who have been qualified.  

There are both print and online resources at each level. 

   

The marketing support pieces they have created highlight the property’s uniqueness and illustrate the point that the quality of the materials must reflect the quality of the property.  For example, their 16-page brochure includes beautiful professional photography--each image accompanied by a haiku poem.  The cover features an original watercolor of one of the home's views printed on fine watercolor paper.  As the judge told us, these materials are “perfectly appropriate” for this level of the luxury market.

Their marketing plan goes beyond advertising and collateral--there is a stong communication component.  They have done a masterful job of leveraging public relations for property exposure -- the listing was first announced in a major story in The Wall Street Journal and there has been follow-up coverage as well.

Congratulations on a superb campaign Susan!

West Buttermilk Ranch Sale Sets Aspen Record

The $31.5 million purchase by a Chicago area billioniare is the most expensive property sold this year in Aspen.  Not surprisingly, the buyer was seeking a very unique "legacy" property that could passed down to future generations. 

More details on the Inside Real Estate News blog and the Aspen Daily News.

Hat tip to George Harvey!

Helmsley Estate Sells for $35 Million

According to The New York Times:

The 40-acre Greenwich, Conn., estate of the late hotel magnate Leona Helmsley was sold Tuesday for $35 million — down from the $125 million it was listed for in 2008 and $20 million less than the last asking price, according to a person with knowledge of the deal.  (full story)

The Wall Street Journal reports:

Leona Helmsley's 40-acre estate in Greenwich, Conn., was sold for $35 million, marked down substantially from its initial $125 million price tag but still among the most expensive homes ever sold in this affluent New York suburb. (full story)

$314 Million Apartment in Monaco Sets New World Record?

An unknown buyer reportedly paid €240 million (about $314 million) for the 17,500-square-foot penthouse known as La Belle Epoque, where financier Edmond Safra died in a mysterious fire in 1999.

The deal would make the apartment the most expensive home in the world, surpassing the $220 million reportedly paid last month for the penthouse in One Hyde Park in London. (Or at least the most expensive home sale that actually closed, since Russian billionaire and New Jersey Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov backed out of his deal to buy widow Lily Safra’s Villefranche estate, Villa Leopolda, for a reported $531 million.)

Read the full scoop on the International Property Journal