A Six Star Luxury Hotel in Manhattan; more delays and fights over the Atlantic Yards project; higher taxes on luxury real estate in Hungary; Trump owners selling before the Trump Waikiki is finished; luxury foreclosures on the rise; Realogy posts first quarter loss.

Does Manhattan need a six star luxury hotel? Ian Schrager thinks so.

HOTEL king Ian Schrager has just worked out an agreement with Norman Sturner to turn the current, Class B office building at 1414 Avenue of the Americas into not just a two- or three-star establishment, but a “six-star” luxury Ian Schrager Hotel. New York Post

More shenanigans at the Atlantic Yards luxury condo development.

Two New York state appeals court rulings could put a wrench in Forest City Ratner Cos.’s plans to build its sprawling Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn.The recent rulings give Henry Weinstein, a developer who owns almost an acre within the proposed Atlantic Yards footprint, the right to evict the property’s tenant, Brooklyn developer Jeshayahu Boymelgreen and Forest City. Crains New York

Hungary toys with the idea of higher tax brackets on luxury real estate – based on the valuation.

Socialist Party (MSZP) MPs are to discuss this proposal today, but the general view is that Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai and Finance Minister Péter Oszkó will have a hard job if they want to hammer their motion through, as real estate tax would affect virtually everyone. Portfolio Hungary

Owners at the Trump Waikiki are attempting to sell units – before the building is finished. Illegally it seems.

Three years ago, real estate, tourism and Donald Trump were soaring to new heights in Hawaii. Some 1,600 potential buyers from across the globe put down $20,000 deposits for an opportunity to reserve units in the celebrity tycoon’s first condominium-hotel in the islands. In eight euphoric hours, all 463 suites in Trump International Hotel & Tower Waikiki Beach Walk were sold for an average $1.5 million. Hundreds were placed on a waiting list. Business week

Realogy posts a substantial first quarter trading loss.

Realogy Corp. posted a $259 million net loss for the first three months of the year, despite cutting $310 million in costs and generating $101 million in additional commission income from new franchise sales. Much of the loss — $144 million — was attributed to interest payments on the company’s massive debt. But Realogy also saw revenue fall $354 million compared to the same period a year ago, as both home sales and commissions from those sales dropped sharply. Inman News

High-end foreclosures on the rise in the luxury real estate market.

Until now, the foreclosure crisis was confined to a narrow niche of middle-class urban communities and outer-rim new housing developments where first-time homeowners and real estate speculators benefited briefly from favorable financing. But increasingly there are signs that the foreclosure problem is spilling over into wealthier areas, where prime borrowers — and even high-end real estate developers — are rapidly falling behind on their construction loans, mortgage payments, property taxes, auto loans and credit cards at an alarmingly fast pace, according to industry analysts, economists and real estate brokers. RealtyTrac

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