Stephan Melloul, the London based owner of Notalia a credit rating company wanted a house for himself in New York and had budgeted $ 20 million for it. After seeing five apartments he realised that he will have to revise his budget to $50 million for a four bedroom apartment with a terrace and the Central Park view.
Gregory Heym, chief economist for Terra Holdings LLC said that properties in this bracket will always command a higher and more rigid price as they are hard to come by. He said that Park and Fifth Avenue buildings are desirable because the opportunity to buy into them is rare. Leonard Steinberg, Managing Director of New York based Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate claimed that he has already sold two properties in the over $ 10 million bracket and is working on two more similar projects. According to him the markets had done a 180 from last year when it dropped dramatically. The confidence has returned which is evident from the data available for the $ 10 million plus transaction in Manhattan.
The median price for apartments sold for $ 10 million or more has gone up by $ 1 million since last year. The median price of apartments in the $10 million plus range has been pretty steady since 2002 except 2007-08 when it hit a high of $14 million. This year it is holding on at $13.2 million.
Via: businessweek
