Obama to Propose Eliminating Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac

[Divernan]

56. Just how typical is it for a 30-something couple to spend $10 mil on a Manhattan apt?

Poster Beacool asked me upthread: "Why did you choose Chelsea and Marc as an example? . . .There are far wealthier residences in Manhattan." I beg to differ that other 30-something couples are spending over $10 million on apartments, and below are the reports showing median prices tend to be about ONE TENTH OF THAT AMOUNT, i.e, from $750,000 to $1.26 million, depending upon what part of the City you're in, and even in the luxury apartments, i.e,. the top tenth of all sales by price, the median price is "only" $4.2 million.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-02/manhattan-apartment-prices-climb-as-buyers-compete.html

The median price of all co-ops and condominiums which changed hands in the 3 months through March 31, 2012 was $820,555.
On the Upper West side, the median price of condo resales climbed 20 percent to $1.26 million, while co-op resale prices rose 4 percent to $730,000, Corcoran said.

Prices declined on the Upper East Side, with the median for previously owned condos falling 3 percent from a year earlier to $975,000, Corcoran said. Co-op prices dropped 17 percent to $726,000, as lower-priced studios and one-bedrooms made up more than half of all sales, according to Corcoran.

Listings for luxury apartments, the top 10 percent of all sales by price, didn’t decline as sharply as the broader market as owners were inspired to try their luck after record prices paid for co-ops and condos in 2012, Miller said. Luxury listings fell 15 percent to 1,025, Miller Samuel and Douglas Elliman said, while the median price of completed deals fell 2.7 percent to $4.02 million.

Now granted, there are a few extreme outliers in the price range, but the owners are not 30-something years of age

Steven A. Cohen, the billionaire founder of SAC Capital Advisors LP, is seeking to sell his 10,000-square-foot (930- square-meter) duplex at One Beacon Court for $115 million, two people familiar with the matter said last week.
Steven A. Cohen (born June 11, 1956) is an American hedge fund manager. He is the founder of SAC Capital Advisors, a Stamford, Connecticut-based hedge fund focusing primarily on equity market strategies. (More of that hedge fund money!)

He has an estimated net worth of $9.3 billion as of March 2013, ranked by Forbes as the 106th richest man in the world.[1][2] Cohen is 35th overall in the U.S.[3] In November 2012, he began to be implicated in a large criminal insider trading scandal. In July 2013, SAC was charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission with failing to prevent insider trading.[4][5]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_A._Cohen

Then there's a triplex penthouse at the Pierre hotel that belonged to Martin Zweig, who predicted the 1987 stock market crash, is also on the market, for $125 million, the New York Times reported March 29.

Life More: Real Estate New York City
Late Investor Martin Zweig's Penthouse Hits The Market For A Record $125 Million

Wikipedia

Weeks after it was rumored to be headed for market, we now know that late investor Martin Zweig's legendary penthouse apartment atop the Pierre in New York City will be listed for $125 million, the New York Times' Robin Finn reports.

While the listing has yet to appear, the $125 million price tag makes it the most expensive home for sale in New York City. It narrowly beats a midtown apartment owned by Steve Cohen, which the SAC honcho is reportedly selling for $115 million.

So what does $125 million buy you at the fabled hotel?

According to Finn, the penthouse is "a triplex confection graced by a grand black-marble staircase, arched cathedral windows that replicate a Versailles chapel, 23-foot ceilings, and fireplaces embraced by mantels designed in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries."

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/martin-zweig-penthouse-listed-for-125m-2013-3#ixzz2bEQkZaFa


In new developments, the inventory of apartments fell 42 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, Miller Samuel and Douglas Elliman said. The median sale price climbed 36 percent to $1.33 million.