Bloomberg News: Rich Russians Returning to U.S. Property Lured by Lower Prices
Started by iMom
almost 17 years ago
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Harlem and Williamsburg have nothing to worry about anymore - the Russians will save them! Ha-ha! http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=adx4qqDiCti4# July 15 (Bloomberg) -- Russian millionaires are returning to the U.S. property market, lured by distressed sales and the ruble’s rise against the dollar, lawyer Edward Mermelstein said. “The way many look at the U.S. right now is... [more]
Harlem and Williamsburg have nothing to worry about anymore - the Russians will save them! Ha-ha!
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=adx4qqDiCti4#
July 15 (Bloomberg) -- Russian millionaires are returning to the U.S. property market, lured by distressed sales and the ruble’s rise against the dollar, lawyer Edward Mermelstein said.
“The way many look at the U.S. right now is that it’s a bargain,” said Mermelstein, who has arranged about 300 real estate deals for buyers from the former Soviet Union since 2007.
Mermelstein, 41, closed two purchases and bid for 20 more residential and commercial properties in New York and Miami for Russian and central Asia clients in the past three months, he said. That compares with no deals or offers in January, he said.
Manhattan apartment prices dropped for the first time since 2002 in the second quarter as the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Bear Stearns Cos. caught up to property owners in the nation’s most expensive urban market. The ruble rallied about 13 percent against the dollar from this year’s low on Feb. 17 and 4 percent against the pound sterling from a Feb. 6 low.
U.S. sellers are cutting prices 30 percent to 40 percent from their peak in 2007, Mermelstein said in an interview in Moscow, where his firm has an office.
“All of a sudden in the last three months activity’s picked up,” he said.
More than half of the 15 or so Russians he’s helping find U.S. property are new clients, he said.
“Now that oil has settled at about $70 a barrel, there’s a little bit of a comfort level,” he said. Oil has averaged $60.14 a barrel in New York trading since April, rising as high as $72.68 on June 11. Last year’s plunging commodity and equity markets wiped out $380 billion in the value of Russia’s so- called Golden Hundred, according to Forbes.
$10 Million Apartments
Closings for apartments priced over $10 million in Manhattan fell by 82 percent in the last year, helping bring the average co-operative price down 29 percent from the second quarter of 2008, according to Brown Harris Stevens Co. About 32 percent of second-quarter listings included discounts from the original asking price, according to StreetEasy.com, a property listing service.
Mermelstein said he closed deals for $1 million and $3.8 million properties last month in New York and has bids for commercial real estate for $25 million to $50 million in the city and New Jersey. He declined to name the clients.
“In the next six months to a year we’ll definitely see some high-profile transactions in terms of number and in terms of trophy assets,” Mermelstein said.
A Thomas Cooley Law School graduate, Mermelstein founded his firm in 1995 and worked as a real estate broker in college. His first Russian client led to a joint venture on New York and Moscow commercial real estate. His company now focuses on Eastern European clients seeking to invest in the U.S.
Celebrity Influence
The increase in Russian interest in U.S. property mirrors what’s happening in other countries. In London, luxury-home prices advanced in June for the first time in more than a year as Russia and Italian buyers took advantage of the pound’s weakness, London-based broker Knight Frank LLP said June 27.
Many Russians considering buying are influenced by celebrities and financiers including Chelsea FC soccer club billionaire Roman Abramovich and telecommunications billionaire Mikhail Friedman, Mermelstein said.
“It’s a great marketing tool,” he said. “Russians are very much of a pack-mentality.”
Not everybody is ready to jump in. Metals and banking magnate Mikhail Prokhorov, 43, named by Forbes as Russia’s richest man with $9.5 billion, isn’t interested.
“Why do I need a house an eight-hour difference away?” Prokhorov said in an interview in Moscow. “I spend 90 percent of my time here and it makes no sense to have a private home so far away.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Yuriy Humber in Moscow at yhumber@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: July 14, 2009 16:00 EDT
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Response by stevejhx
almost 17 years ago
Posts: 12656
Member since: Feb 2008
You beat me to it, iMom!
Let's see - 300 deals since 2007. Apparently we're going to need some Irish carpenters.
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Response by The_President
almost 17 years ago
Posts: 2412
Member since: Jun 2009
The Irish carpetners are back Steve. The NY Times just did an article about them the other day. I posted it.
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Response by notadmin
almost 17 years ago
Posts: 3835
Member since: Jul 2008
more worried they are of putin & friends taking their bounty and putting them in jail
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Response by alanhart
almost 17 years ago
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One Princess Edna equals five Irish carpenters, though.
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Response by nyc10022
almost 17 years ago
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"The Irish carpetners are back Steve. The NY Times just did an article about them the other day. I posted it. "
Yes, and the article specifically says they don't have the money to buy luxury condos.
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Response by iMom
almost 17 years ago
Posts: 279
Member since: Feb 2008
"“Why do I need a house an eight-hour difference away?” Prokhorov said in an interview in Moscow. “I spend 90 percent of my time here and it makes no sense to have a private home so far away.”"
Wow. Some of these Russian billionaires are actually showing some common sense. I'm impressed.
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Response by stevejhx
almost 17 years ago
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I think the Grand Duke of Luxembourg is also buying. In Long Island City. Great views, he's quoted as having said.
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Response by nyc10022
almost 17 years ago
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The 7 train is one stop to his embassy.
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Response by stevejhx
almost 17 years ago
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Do they really have an embassy in New York? I thought embassies where in DC. If he can get to DC on the No. 7 train, Long Island City is a much better place than I'd ever care to admit.
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Response by nyc10022
almost 17 years ago
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you can if you swim.
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Response by The_President
almost 17 years ago
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There are no embassies in NYC. There are CONSULATES. Embassies are in D.C. Do you really need someone who supposively lives in Jersey to explain this?
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Response by NWT
almost 17 years ago
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Ambassadors to the U.N.
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Response by stevejhx
almost 17 years ago
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I think the U.N. has "delegations," even though their chief delegates are sometimes called "ambassadors."
In any case they don't pay tax, which is why the Grand Duke wants that Long Island City view.
I'm also pretty sure the Maharincess of Franistan is moving to Long Island City, though it may be a single-family in Astoria.
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Response by nyc10022
almost 17 years ago
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Its missions, actually.
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Response by The_President
almost 17 years ago
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good, nyc10022 has learned something today, which is that there are no embassies in NYC. Too bad he learned it from a guy who lives in Jersey... That must be embarassing.
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Response by stevejhx
almost 17 years ago
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I don't live in Jersey.
Yes they are missions.
Permanent Mission of Luxembourg to the United Nations
17 Beekman Place, New York, NY 10022
Telephone: (212) 935-3589
Telefax: (212) 935-5896
E-mail: newyork.rp@mae.etat.lu
Website: www.un.int/luxembourg
LICC: HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE YOU TO GET THERE BY SUBWAY? The Grand Duke is enquiring.
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Response by nyc10022
almost 17 years ago
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Yes, Steve doesn't live in Jersey, alpo does.
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Response by stevejhx
almost 17 years ago
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What's the difference? Both have FANTASTIC views of where they really want to live: Manhattan.
Which is what the Grand Duke and Maharincess find so intriguing. Indeed, I wouldn't be surprised if Princess Anastasia uses her last Social Security check as a down payment on a pad in Hoboken. Just one Path station away!
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Response by The_President
almost 17 years ago
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They are also called consulates:
Official site of Consulate General of Russia in NY
Dear visitors!
Welcome to the start page of the official site of the Consulate General of the Russian Federation in New York.
The Consulate General has been officially re-opened on April 13, 1992. The Consul-General of the Russian Federation in New York is currently Hon. Sergey V. Garmonin.
The Consulate General is located at:
9 East 91st Street, New York, NY 10128 [ see map ]
Closest subway station - "86-th street" (trains 4,5,6)
Phone:(212) 348-0926; Fax:(212) 831-9162
The Consulate General is a state authority for foreign relations of the Russian Federation exercising consular functions on behalf of the Russian Federation inside its consular district on the territory of the United States. The Consulate General's consular district includes 9 US states:
Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
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Response by stevejhx
almost 17 years ago
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Consulates are not embassies or missions. They are consular offices, if that's not redundant, that is, places where you can get visas (not the credit card) or apostilles. Why are you doing this to us, alpie?
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Response by The_President
almost 17 years ago
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I never said consulates are the same as embassies. Again, there are no embassies in NYC. So, according to nyc10022, there is either a secret embassy in NYC that nobdoy knows about or the 7 train goes to D.C.
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Response by 30yrs_RE_20_in_REO
almost 17 years ago
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Forget the 300 deals since 2007.
"Mermelstein, 41, closed TWO purchases and bid for 20 more ".
2 sales. TWO SALES. that's a Gold Rush?
I don't know about anyone else, but the last person I would want to have a disagreement with as a neighbor is some Russian Mobster.
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Response by stevejhx
almost 17 years ago
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If the 7 train goes to DC then I'm moving to LIC because - How f*cking convenient is that?
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Response by The_President
almost 17 years ago
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I know they are extending the 7 line, but I did not know they are extending it THAT far!
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Response by stevejhx
almost 17 years ago
Posts: 12656
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That's what LICComment tells me - which is why LIC is GRAND for the GRAND DUKE!
You beat me to it, iMom!
Let's see - 300 deals since 2007. Apparently we're going to need some Irish carpenters.
The Irish carpetners are back Steve. The NY Times just did an article about them the other day. I posted it.
more worried they are of putin & friends taking their bounty and putting them in jail
One Princess Edna equals five Irish carpenters, though.
"The Irish carpetners are back Steve. The NY Times just did an article about them the other day. I posted it. "
Yes, and the article specifically says they don't have the money to buy luxury condos.
"“Why do I need a house an eight-hour difference away?” Prokhorov said in an interview in Moscow. “I spend 90 percent of my time here and it makes no sense to have a private home so far away.”"
Wow. Some of these Russian billionaires are actually showing some common sense. I'm impressed.
I think the Grand Duke of Luxembourg is also buying. In Long Island City. Great views, he's quoted as having said.
The 7 train is one stop to his embassy.
Do they really have an embassy in New York? I thought embassies where in DC. If he can get to DC on the No. 7 train, Long Island City is a much better place than I'd ever care to admit.
you can if you swim.
There are no embassies in NYC. There are CONSULATES. Embassies are in D.C. Do you really need someone who supposively lives in Jersey to explain this?
Ambassadors to the U.N.
I think the U.N. has "delegations," even though their chief delegates are sometimes called "ambassadors."
In any case they don't pay tax, which is why the Grand Duke wants that Long Island City view.
I'm also pretty sure the Maharincess of Franistan is moving to Long Island City, though it may be a single-family in Astoria.
Its missions, actually.
good, nyc10022 has learned something today, which is that there are no embassies in NYC. Too bad he learned it from a guy who lives in Jersey... That must be embarassing.
I don't live in Jersey.
Yes they are missions.
Permanent Mission of Luxembourg to the United Nations
17 Beekman Place, New York, NY 10022
Telephone: (212) 935-3589
Telefax: (212) 935-5896
E-mail: newyork.rp@mae.etat.lu
Website: www.un.int/luxembourg
LICC: HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE YOU TO GET THERE BY SUBWAY? The Grand Duke is enquiring.
Yes, Steve doesn't live in Jersey, alpo does.
What's the difference? Both have FANTASTIC views of where they really want to live: Manhattan.
Which is what the Grand Duke and Maharincess find so intriguing. Indeed, I wouldn't be surprised if Princess Anastasia uses her last Social Security check as a down payment on a pad in Hoboken. Just one Path station away!
They are also called consulates:
Official site of Consulate General of Russia in NY
Dear visitors!
Welcome to the start page of the official site of the Consulate General of the Russian Federation in New York.
The Consulate General has been officially re-opened on April 13, 1992. The Consul-General of the Russian Federation in New York is currently Hon. Sergey V. Garmonin.
The Consulate General is located at:
9 East 91st Street, New York, NY 10128 [ see map ]
Closest subway station - "86-th street" (trains 4,5,6)
Phone:(212) 348-0926; Fax:(212) 831-9162
The Consulate General is a state authority for foreign relations of the Russian Federation exercising consular functions on behalf of the Russian Federation inside its consular district on the territory of the United States. The Consulate General's consular district includes 9 US states:
Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
Consulates are not embassies or missions. They are consular offices, if that's not redundant, that is, places where you can get visas (not the credit card) or apostilles. Why are you doing this to us, alpie?
I never said consulates are the same as embassies. Again, there are no embassies in NYC. So, according to nyc10022, there is either a secret embassy in NYC that nobdoy knows about or the 7 train goes to D.C.
Forget the 300 deals since 2007.
"Mermelstein, 41, closed TWO purchases and bid for 20 more ".
2 sales. TWO SALES. that's a Gold Rush?
I don't know about anyone else, but the last person I would want to have a disagreement with as a neighbor is some Russian Mobster.
If the 7 train goes to DC then I'm moving to LIC because - How f*cking convenient is that?
I know they are extending the 7 line, but I did not know they are extending it THAT far!
That's what LICComment tells me - which is why LIC is GRAND for the GRAND DUKE!
Big trouble for Moose and Squirrel!