Dwindling demand, rising interest rates and high inflation means many well-known Indian luxury property developers are shifting their focus down-market in major Indian property markets. “Affordable housing,” is becoming the new “luxury.”

Key real estate players like DLF, Ansal API, Omaxe, Unitech, Puravankara, Matheran Realty, Indu Projects, Shriram Properties, Jain Heights & Structures, Shapoorji Pallonji and Hiranandani Constructions are shifting their focus from luxury segment to mid-segment and affordable housing.The Financial Express

A luxury real estate auction in Florida attracted a decent crowd, with a $2 million+ home sale. Luxury property auctions are perhaps the most realistic way of kick-starting the sluggish market. The entertaining thing though, is that the organisers, Concierge auctions’ press release states:  “The program benefits both buyers and sellers, as they can participate with confidence knowing the properties will sell on Auction Day regardless of the high bid.” Yet a few sentences later, “Concierge Auctions has made the determination that it is in the best interest of the seller and registered buyers of 850 Mangrove Point Road to re-offer the property in the next Sarasota auction in December.” This must be some strange new meaning of the words “Will sell regardless,” that I was previously unaware of. Luxury real estate auction in Florida.

Investors spent hours in their cars battling for parking spaces at the Dubai Cityscape exhibition. When one considers the fact that many planned projects have recently been cancelled; a rash of arrests and scandals in the real estate sector were made following allegations that Damac were involved in selling property they did not own (amongst other allegations); recent changes in the laws regarding visas for foreign buyers meaning a residence visa is by no means a given; and the fact that several banks have admitted being heavily involved in the sub-prime mess, one comes to one of two conclusions - denial is alive and well in the UAE - Or they are paying cash.

Despite concerns triggered by the international credit crisis, traffic backed up for kilometres yesterday as drivers battled for hours to reach the Dubai International Exhibition Centre, home to Cityscape, the international property investment and development show. The National

This apparent surge of confidence is at sharp odds with other news coming from the region. The Saudi stock market fell a massive ten percent in value yesterday - the biggest single day drop in years, and the Dubai Financial market fell 14% this week alone.

Closer to home, Bloomberg is reporting an an upswing in the amount of million-dollar timeshares, and suggesting that America’s wealthy are redeeming their reward points in an effort to save money, which they feel indicates a cutback in the luxury real estate market.

Seventy-one percent of America’s wealthiest households — representing the top 10 percent of incomes — say the real estate and banking crises have hurt their sense of financial security, and 48 percent are now worried about running out of money, up 13 percentage points from April, American Express Co.’s publishing unit and Harrison Group said in a survey released Oct. 2 Bloomberg

In Vancouver, analysts at Re/Max are suggesting that the luxury property market in Victoria is showing signs of slowing down. there is some good news at the very top end of the luxury markets though. Following the recent record sales of property in France, an un-named Russian buyer has just purchased a seven-storey, 1,300 square meter apartment within walking distance of the Kremlin in Moscow for the almost-unbelievable sum of $99 million. And the most expensive apartment on Australia was sold in Sydney. Another secret buyer reputedly paid $20 million for a two-storey, 350 square meter penthouse in Potts Point - off plan.

Donald Trump Jr.

Late last November, Donald Trump Jr. – the son of the brash American real estate tycoon and reality-TV star – appeared at the high-profile Cityscape India 2007 real estate conference in Mumbai to give a speech on the subcontinent’s booming property market.

Trump, the executive vice president of development and acquisitions at New York-based Trump Organization USA LLC, said India’s red-hot economy has fueled demand for more residential development, particularly luxury housing, but also hotels and resorts for the country’s flourishing tourism industry.

Before he departed, Trump indicated his desire to invest in India’s real estate sector, and hinted that he wouldn’t wait long to do so. “We feel it is now time to invest in Indian realty projects as the quality has moved up and we see emergence of some high-end developers with a product level that will support our brand,” he said in his speech.

It appears that time is now: Trump announced in late July that he intends to set up a hedge fund worth up to $1 billion to invest in Indian real estate.

Accordingly, the privately held fund would initially target property in Mumbai and also include an Indian family as investors. Thirty year-old Trump did not give specific details about the fund, such as how he plans to raise the money, or where the first investment would be made. But in an interview with New York-based media company Bloomberg LP, he did say that it would start conservatively and expand as the opportunities presented themselves.

“The fund will be for acquisitions of real estate in the high end and across the spectrum,” Trump said. “We’ll start it off relatively small and grow it as we get more familiar with the Indian market. Our entry has to be in Mumbai, and that’s where everything is going on right now in terms of the high-end real estate. That’s the place where one is going to achieve the highest prices per square foot. It sets the tone for all of the other future developments.” More on Luxury Real Estate in India - Donald Trump Junior Shows Faith

It would appear that the luxury real estate sector in Manhattan is propping up the rest of the New York market, which is showing signs of stress

Barron’s reported recently that:

Signs of cracks in Manhattan’s property market could mean the rest of the country is on the road to recovery, since New York tends to feel the effects of a slowing economy later than the nation does. One segment still in the stratosphere: luxury condos and co-ops in exclusive buildings.

Barron’s

Although some of the prices advertised recently seem a little unrealistic. A venture capitalist recently advertised his Tony 15 Central Park West apartment for $60 million more than he paid for it a month previously. I have been known to get it wrong on occasion though.

The Turkish Daily News, always a major source of information for those in the know, reports that “Apartment demand weakens in NYC.”

Manhattan apartments costing $1 million or less saw weaker demand as cutbacks by Wall Street firms meant few shoppers and an increase in the number of dwellings for sale.

Turkish Daily News

Which is good news for some and bad news for others of course. A recent press release by Bond New York announces the launch of a Luxury Boutique Condominium development in Greenpoint, Brooklyn states:

New York City apartment’s largest real estate agency launches sales for Greenpoint’s Newest Luxury Boutique Condominium -185 India Street - a six-story, elevator building developed by NYBridge and projected to be completed late spring 2008.

Bond New York Property Marketing Group, specializing in New York City apartments rentals and sales, is pleased to announce that sales have launched for 185 India Street, the newest boutique condominium in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

Bond New York City Apartments

Developed by NYBridge, 185 India Street will feature eight one- and two-bedroom floor-through residences and a two bedroom duplex penthouse, each with large private balconies and/or roof decks. Many of the units offer magnificent Manhattan skyline views and are priced from $379,000 to $999,000. The six-story elevator building is projected to be completed late spring 2008.

Kitchens will feature Bosch appliances, granite countertops, shaker style wood grain cabinets, wood floors throughout, oversized double glazed windows, and stainless steel appliances. The elegant marbled bathrooms boast elevated Jacuzzi tubs and sleek wood vanities with modern glass sinks.

The two-bedroom duplex penthouse features double exposures and 17-foot ceilings. This incredible living space has three amazing outdoor spaces including a 500-square-foot private multi-level roof deck. A 270-square-foot private terrace, with a hot tub, is accessible from the master bedroom with a spiral staircase leading to a wonderful dressing and home office area.

185 India Street brings a unique intimate residential experience into Greenpoint’s vibrant historic area, one of the most desired residential destinations in Northern Brooklyn. Full of fantastic restaurants, cafes and wonderful shops, this classic condominium will provide the best of both worlds, big city living combined with small town charm.

For further information, please contact David Kazemi or visit www.bondnewyork.com.

Bond New York is the largest independently owned, fastest growing, real estate agency in New York City. Bond New York is a full-service, team-oriented, high-energy brokerage firm specializing in New York City Apartments sales and rentals with five offices city-wide and a staff of over 300 licensed New York City real estate agents.

Despite rising median prices, estimates recently are that most sub-million dollar properties in both Manhattan and Brooklyn, are selling for noticeably less than the original asking prices. A bargain in the offing perhaps?

Any one looking through the recent announcements of world-wide luxury property investment developments could be forgiven for thinking that Dubai is the only country in the World still building new projects, and it is fair to say that Dubai appears to have plenty of room left for more. This is some of the most recent announcements.

Nakheel’s Waterfront development

is attracting a huge amount of interest, both from developers and investors, with many announcements selling out within a short space of time. Most recent, is

Cirrus’ mixed use project, Aquarius Gate

. The commercial tower at Aquarius Gate will be twenty-nine stories high, and offer panoramic views of the Arabian Gulf and the Palm Jebel Ali from its. Six glass elevators will provide uninterrupted views of the sea. (until the next water based development.) And the luxurious residential tower will offer views across the Canal, the Marina and the Palm Jebel Ali.

Burj Park Dubai

was announced last week, another luxurious waterfront development and within walking distance of the Buj Dubai and the Dubai Mall. What with the current state of traffic in Dubai, it’s fair to say walking is a sensible option.

The Burj Al Alam

, a luxury retail mall, is also planned and expected to be completed around mid-2011.

Raffles Dubai

recently joined the Al Basel consultancy network to promote their hotel in the hospitality sector.

Construction continues apace on the

Burj Dubai,

which is currently the world’s tallest building, despite the fact that it is still unfinished.

The World Islands development

recently completed the breakwater and one of the first announcements was the

luxury boutique hotel on “Greece,

” by European arcistocrat, Baron Jean Van Gysel de Meise.

Despite some suggestions that Dubai’s luxury real estate sector is headed for a crash, there seems to be no end in sight at the moment and more developments are being announced, almost on a daily basis.

SIMA08, the biggest real estate exhibition in the world, kicks off next week, April 8-12th in Madrid, Spain. Top of the discussion list will probably be the disastrous state of the Spanish real estate industry, but this year’s exhibition will be split into several sections in an enormous exhibition area.

This year includes:
 
SIMATUR, International Tourism Real Estate Fair. The leading fair for residential tourism.
INTERNATIONAL Pavilion, an entrance to investment markets worldwide.
SIMACITIES, promotion, management and planning of cities.
SIMAFUTURA, technology, design and equipment for sustainable construction

Last year’s exhibition attracted almost 160,000 visitors and featured more than 800 exhibitors, providing an opportunity for real estate professionals to meet with developers, investors, public administrators and financial institutions. Several prizes are on offer, including “Asprima,” which publicly recognizes projects or activities in the real estate sector that the jury identify as a milestone in their field, either due to their quality, or because they offer innovations that can become a reference of future actions.

Spaces are still available, and for those of you still suffering from the winter blues, you can take it from me that Madrid is beautiful this time of year. 73 degrees and fair, according to weather.com

Brochure or invitations SIMA08

Photo Credit

One of the world’s leading luxury yacht manufacturers, Ferretti Group, has just announced a partnership with ACI Real Estate to build a shoreline property in Dubai. The $1.6 billion project, named “Marine Legend” at Nakheel’s Dubai Waterfront will be the first real estate venture for Ferretti.

Chief Executive Officer of the Ferretti Group, Mr. Vincenzo Cannatelli, said he believes there is great potential in the real estate sector, especially in the East, and the company is eager to become involved in the shore based side of things.

"We are not getting directly involved in the real-estate business, but participating with right partners to improve our presence," Cannatelli said when asked what part his group would play in the deal. The real estate sector, he said, directly complements the yacht industry by way of accelerating business.

"The growth of waterfront properties in Dubai will definitely accelerate our business in the region. In fact, many customers of ACI Real Estate are our potential customers too and would be interested in owning one of our yachts."

Currently, Ferretti sells approximately thirty luxury yachts yearly in the United Arab Emirates, and is hoping to improve that to between fifty and a hundred units within the next five years.

"We have been thinking of the UAE as our next destination for international expansion. The market offers a special platform with a sound business environment that facilitates global business and investment. Dubai is well poised to become a leading global business capital and we are happy to join ACI to be part of this invigorating phase of growth," he declared.

Managing Director of ACI Real Estate, Mr. Robin Lohmann said the property will create new trends in luxury waterfront residence in the emirate.

"Marine Legends reflects growing demand for high-end residences and concurrently aims at providing an appropriate setting that unifies the requirements and aspirations of Dubai to appreciate the waterline and improved water canal systems," said Lohmann. "There has been a lot of infrastructure development at the Dubai Waterfront, and I think it is a realistic scenario to complete the project within the scheduled time as we have already started working on the design."

The plans are to complete the project within the next thirty–six months. Marine Legends will comprise three twin towers and will be designed with yachting elements blended in into it. Architects from both partners will co-ordinate on the design and some of the towers will be named after the Ferretti brands.

Lohmann said the company would be securing more properties in the Dubai Waterfront in the future. "We have already crossed $2.7 billion in turnover in this year. We will be diversifying our portfolio by securing our market share in emirates such as Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Ras Al Khaimah as well as Dubai, where new developments are happening."

Ferretti Group

As far as I can tell from the advertising, Ferretti yachts seem to come fully equipped with a bevy of bikini-clad babes  (three seems to be the optimum number) - just one more reason to buy one Although, as they are fully customisable, I imagine there is an option for speedo-clad hunks, if that is your preference.

The Ferretti Group, based in Forli, is one of the world’s leaders in the design and construction of luxury motoryachts and sporting boats that measure between 7 and 80 meters long. The Group consists of: Ferretti Yachts division (flybridge motoryachts, 14 to 27 meters), Pershing S.p.A. (high performance open cruisers, 11 to 35 meters), Itama Cantieri Navali S.p.A (open motoryacht, 13 to 25 meters), the American Bertram Yacht, Inc. (sport fisherman motoryachts, 12 to 22 meters), Riva S.p.A. (open and flybridge motoryachts, 10 to 35 meters), Apreamare S.p.A. in Sorrento (“gozzo sorrentino” and ‘Maestro’ line, 7 to 25 meters), Mochi Craft division (lobster boats, 13 to 23 meters), Custom Line division (maxiyachts in composite materials from 26 to 34 meters with two decks) and CRN S.p.A. , (megayachts in composite materials – 40 meter planig model and 43 meter displacement model - and steel megayachts from 46 to 80 meters)

The Group also includes: Ferretti Group USA, Inc. , the company responsible for importing Ferretti Yachts, Pershing, Riva, Apreamare, Mochi Craft, Custom Line and CRN motoryachts to the United States and Canada, Resin Sistem S.r.l., a company specialized in the production of fiberglass products for Ferretti boats, Diesse Arredamenti, a company specialized in the production of boat interiors for all the companies in the Group, Diesel Center, a distributor of diesel marine engines, propulsion and control systems, reversers, reducers and generators, as well as Pinmar S.L. , European leader specialized in yacht painting and refitting, Zago S.p.A. , a company specialized in the production of wooden fixtures and furnishing for megayachts over 100 feet. It is currently present in 95 countries and has three representative branches in Europe, the United States and Asia.

Ferretti Group

Nakheel Properties

Unless you have been living in a cave in Afghanistan for the last several years, it will not have escaped your attention that the property market in the USA is “having a few issues.” Record foreclosures, new laws being written in seconds and changes being made to the IRS rules – all to deal with the sub-prime crisis. Some parts of the country have seen property values drop by as much as 50% practically overnight. These issues are bleeding over into other world markets with investor confidence dropping like the proverbial lead balloon and banks hurriedly tightening lending criteria as quickly as they can replace their CEOs.

Yet the luxury market has been largely untouched. Manhattan, Singapore, Hong Kong, to name just a few, have continued to see record prices in the Luxury real estate sector. Why?

Cash. The luxury sector is driven by cash purchases rather than poor quality, over priced, under-funded loans. Wealthy real estate purchasers are unlikely to be queuing at the ACME loan company’s front door hoping for a low introductory mortgage offer. They pay cash.

Manhattan

Peter Comitini has an excerpt from The Corcoran 2007 report, which is available here. “The year was epitomized by a number of high profile luxury residences, closing at record setting numbers; most notably uptown were Robert A. M. Stern’s15 Central Park West & The Plaza hotel conversion. Further downtown, we saw more sales records achieved by cutting edge projects like Herzog + de Muron’s 40 Bond Street, Jean Novel’s 100 Eleventh Avenue in West Chelsea as well as 40 Mercer Street in Soho; and SOM’s 101 Warren Street in Tribeca. All are among the most significant residential architecture being envisioned and built in the world. Quality design, construction, visionary development, and lifestyle amenities are the essential selling points for luxury buyers in Manhattan. Overall there continues to be a shortage of quality inventory in every price category.”  Of course, Donald Trump has always been of the opinion that you can’t compare Manhattan to the rest of the world, let alone the rest of the country.

London

Average asking prices for prime London property dropped slightly in the last quarter of 2007, immediately rallying in January 2008, pushing the average price up to new record levels. This is in sharp contrast to the rest of London and other parts of the UK. Over 60% of sales of London’s luxury property is to foreign investors, in turn limiting availability hence the continued rises in the face of reductions elsewhere. Record prices for London property were seen in several luxury sectors during 2007. Mostly to overseas buyers who plan to hold on to the property rather than flip it. As recently as 2004, typical ownership length was less than 9 months before re-selling. This has now risen to over 20 months – and continuing to rise. Lev Leviev for instance, paid over $70 million for a seven bedroom house in Hampstead.  

Occasional mention of luxury house prices dropping is made, but, at least in part, this depends on your definition of “luxury,” as applied to the property market. This report from Bloomberg last year suggested that luxury property prices were falling. Notably, this report quotes median prices. Never an accurate indicator.

No, the luxury real estate market is a completely different market, almost unrelated to the loan-based markets. Prices determined by available finance as opposed to available cash are never going to be in step with each other. Whilst the luxury real estate sector may have the occasional blip, the trend seems ever upwards.