Concierge Auctions today announced the sale of Cher’s home in Hawaii to a buyer from Arizona for $8.72 million.  The January 18 auction included the successful sale of five properties in Kona, Hawaii, for a total of more than $19.4 million.

In addition to Cher’s home, a property at 72-3209 Ka Nehe Place in the Kuki’o Golf and Beach Club and Residences selling absolute was purchased by a buyer from Beverly Hills for $4.95 million.  A second home selling absolute in Kuki’o, at 72-3205 Punaloa Place, was purchased for $3.85 million.  Collectively, the prices achieved for the homes in Kuki’o were $10 per square foot higher than the average price per square foot for other homes sold in the Maniniowali section of Kuki’o over the past six months.  Additionally, two home sites in Kuk’io sold for $990,000 and $962,000, respectively.

“The auction process is clearly becoming the selling option of choice for exclusive luxury properties, and we look forward to presenting many more opportunities in premier destinations nationwide over the coming months,” stated George Graham, CEO of Concierge Auctions.

The efforts of the Concierge Auctions team and its partners resulted in 110 interested buyer prospects and 25 registered bidders from throughout the world, including seven phone bidders.  In less than a month, the website experienced over 35,000 visitors from 126 countries, led by the United States, Canada, UK, Australia, Mexico, Japan and Russia, and all US states, led by California, New York, Hawaii, Texas and Georgia.  Advance interest in the auction included press coverage in hundreds of leading media outlets including the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, CNN Money, the Today Show and Access Hollywood.

“Concierge Auctions utilized the latest technologies and marketing programs, combined with the untiring efforts of our experienced personnel, to properly educate and attract an unprecedented number of high-profile buyer prospects, many of whom were not familiar with the outstanding reputation of the Hualalai and Kuk’io resorts and their properties.  This in turn enabled us to achieve exceptional results for our clients,” Graham stated.

“Following our successful sale of two Hualalai homes alongside Concierge Auctions in August, we were pleased to work with their team again,” stated Rob Kildow, Principal Broker at Hualalai Realty.  “Again, the outcome was a great result for all parties involved.”

Cher’s 8,800-square-foot Balinese style residence, located at 72-122 Lau’eki Street in the Hualalai Resort, features a gated center courtyard leading to the main residence, which includes a master wing, great room, kitchen, dining room, outdoor living area, and infinity pool with spa overlooking the Hualalai Golf Course and the Pacific Ocean.  The property at 72-3209 Ka Nehe Place in Kuki’o was newly designed and furnished by its owner, architect and interior designer Jennifer Day.

The auction began with a call for donations to the Salvation Army’s relief efforts in Haiti, which raised more than $23,500 from registered bidders

About Concierge Auctions: Concierge Auctions is the preeminent luxury real estate auction firm serving high-end sellers nationwide.  A leading provider of services for individual and institutional owners of luxury residential real estate, Concierge Auctions is revolutionizing the industry by offering an accelerated marketing process that obtains fair market value for high-end properties in a determined time frame.  Building on a centuries-old method for selling the finest art and antiquities, the company combines the latest technologies and marketing programs with experienced personnel to generate the maximum value for the most premier properties in an open, competitive forum.

As a preferred auction provider to Sotheby’s International Realty® and other luxury brokerage firms, the company has executed auctions throughout the country, from New York to Hawaii.  The company’s database includes more than 10,000 luxury real estate buyers and agents from all 50 states and 38 countries and territories.  The principals of Concierge Auctions have been involved in the transfer of more than $2 billion in luxury real estate sales over the past 10 years.  For more information, call 888-966-4759 or visit www.ConciergeAuctions.com.

Prices began falling over two years ago and significant declines were seen throughout 2009, with several months experiencing 5%+ value drops. The 1.0% growth in prices seen in November is a small bright spot.All Property Type Aggregate Index recorded a 1.5% price decline in the month of October.  The index now stands 43.7% below the peak measured two years ago, in October 2007.

October measured an uptick in transaction volume compared to previous months.  97 repeat-sales totaling $1.4 billion were used in calculating the monthly index. Highlights:

• The eastern office market was dragged down by the poor performance in New York over the past year.  Office prices in the East fell 37.3% annually and 40.6% from the peak.
• The South had the worst performance of any region, with three of the four property types measuring annual declines greater than 30%.  Apartments in the South saw the largest drop of any sub-index, with prices cut in half over the past year.
• Southern California properties saw relatively mild price declines with no property type measuring an annual decline above 30%.
• New York offices saw the largest annual price declines of the three MSA-level office indices.  Office prices in New York fell 38.1% over the past four quarters, and have dropped 39.3% overall.
• Prices on Florida apartments have been falling for the past three years and this year, prices plummeted 46.1%. Florida apartment values are now 51.6% below their peak.

As usual, the reports coming out of Spain are conflicting with reality and the vast number of repossessed houses in Spain is distorting the market considerably. No one seems to know what is going on and the recent National Institute of Statistics report suggest a drop in prices of just 7%, which is – at best – laughable. Even the banks admit they do not know exactly how many properties they hold and are slowly drip feeding them into the system at a rate that will prevent the market from collapsing completely. Unemployment is still officially around 18%, and the GDP shrank by 4% (officially) so goodness knows what the real figures look like.

There is around 1 million properties on the market, not including an unspecified number of bank repossessions that are just being moth balled, but I suspect the billions of Euros poured in by the ECB last year will be running out soon, so one of two things will happen. Either these properties will be placed on the market and we will see a genuine market price for them – or the ECB will be forced to buy more Spanish bonds.

I am not sure of the practicalities of artificially propping the market up in this fashion because sales are dismally low and sooner or later something has to give. The amount of repossessed property in Spain is being totally distorted by the “debt for equity swaps” undertaken by the large banks, although a recent announcement by the Bank of Spain that banks must write off 10% of the value of a repossession after holding it for a year may make a difference. But this does not cover developers taken over in  a swap, so who knows?

According to a recent Reuters poll, the debt crisis in Dubai is set to cause further price deceases this year. Prices are already some 60% off and are continuing to decline with a lack of potential investors and serious over supply. According to Fabio Scacciavillani, an economist at the Dubai International Financial Centre in an interview with Reuters this week,

“The recent woes of Dubai World have further sapped the prospects of a recovery in real estate,”

Which sounds like the understatement of the year to me. For once analysts and estate agents agree and no one but the die hards are predicting anything other than a downward spiral with no recovery until 2011 – maybe. The concensus is that prices will fall another 10% this year and 3% in 2011.

Honestly – predicting what is going to happen in any real estate market has become a complete and utter crap shoot recently. The British Government Inc has managed to eke out an increase in prices by preventing banks from making repossessions, cutting interest rates to the bone and printing billions of extra money. Albeit at the cost of 20% of estate agents in the UK – seeing as sales volumes are still around 1/3rd of normal.

So – who knows what will happen? The recent laws, hastily thrown together in the wake of defaults and a mass exodus of ex-pats might have an impact, but I doubt it. There is a massive slew of canceled projects in Dubai – and the rest of the Emirates for that matter.

According to Deutsche Bank, there will be somewhere around 32,000 extra units on the market this year which is a substantial over supply, so price weakening is probable.

The latest report by the Kalinka-Realty Consulting Agency in Moscow states that some segments of the luxury real estate market in Moscow fell in price by as much as 60 percent in 2009, with properties that were previously priced at $5 million plus being available at less than $2.5 million.

The recession has hit Russia hard with many of the richest entrepreneurs  going cap in hand for government loans, much like the Western world. Strict stipulations were attached to many government loans, and it will be interesting to see just how much private enterprise stays in private hands after the loan deadlines pass – which will be this year in many cases.

In fact, the Kalinka agency only started just 10 years ago, as the luxury real estate market in Russia was just starting to switch from government officials to private individuals. Should be an interesting 2010 – seeing as the amount of canceled building projects in Moscow and failed construction firms continues to rise.

Is China following in Dubai’s footsteps?

The Chinese central bank surprised the markets last week by raising the interest rate slightly on its three-month bills from 1.3280% to 1.3684%. This is the first rate increase since August and signaled an effort by Beijing to reduce asset-price inflation after a record surge in credit. The news, sparking fears in markets that the central bank may hike benchmark interest rates, sent the Shanghai Composite Index down almost 2% in one day. Some Asian and European markets also felt the impact. Emerginvest

Forte to buy Shanghai property from Goldman?

Chinese property developer Shanghai Forte Land Co Ltd <2337.HK> is in talks to buy a high-end residential property in Shanghai from Goldman Sachs in a deal worth more than $200 million, two people familiar with the situation said. Foreign investors including Goldman, Morgan Stanley and Macquarie Group Ltd have been reducing their China property holdings during the past year, taking advantage of the country’s real estate market rebound as the global financial crisis weakened some western banks. ABC news

Luxury foreclosures and auctions are in Vogue – some forced, some not.

Cher’s Hawaiian home is up for auction – it will be auctioned on the 18th of this month. Unlike Nick Cage, this is not a forced auction and quite a proportion of sellers are turning to auctions as the traditional sales approach is failing in many cases.

Edward Abramson admits he has it good. At 66, he’s retired, owns several homes and spends his time doing volunteer work while his wife works as a ski instructor at a Colorado resort.

But Abramson took a brief detour from his life of leisure this week to take a stomach-turning risk: After his Vail penthouse floundered on the housing market, the former magazine publisher decided to cut ties with his real estate agent and approach an auctioneer instead. “We couldn’t sleep for two days” before the auction, he said. ABC

More laws in Dubai

Talk about “shutting the stable door after the hose has bolted.” Dubai is introducing even more laws – in this case, an attempt to regulate the real estate market by introducing a new “professional,” category for real estate agents, requiring a license.. Sadly – these will be for sale and I do not see this making one iota of difference – the amount of Dubai foreclosures is still rising and the laws are still untested.

Labour cards and residence visas issued to real estate brokers will now include their designation and henceforth not be categorised as “sales staff”.

Marwan bin Ghalita, Chief Executive Officer, Rera, said: “This is the first step towards a complete classification of real estate professions in Dubai.

“The practical objective is to make sure each real estate professional’s designation reflects what he does so buyers and sellers are clear that they are dealing with properly qualified, competent, licensed and registered professionals.” Zawya