Realty Zone

Park Avenue property owners are feeling a little poorer.

In what seemed like a New York-minute, prices of luxury homes in the area suddenly started to fall. One penthouse owner on Central Park West repeatedly slashed the asking price down to $9.9 million from an original $16.5 million — and still no takers.

“Up through the end of this summer, there were almost two markets in Manhattan, the high-end and everything else,” said Jonathan Miller, president and chief executive of Miller Samuel Inc., a real estate appraisal and consulting firm.

That all changed after Sept. 7 when the government seized control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage finance giants.

“People started thinking the high-end market is just as vulnerable as the rest,” Miller said.

The median sales price of a luxury apartment slipped nearly 4 percent to $4,022,000 between October and December compared with the same period a year ago, according to Prudential Douglas Elliman’s quarterly report released Tuesday. The report defines the luxury market as the upper 10 percent of sales prices.

The market held up better for the merely somewhat-rich. The median price for all Manhattan apartments — $900,000 — gained almost 6 percent in the quarter, the report said. Another report from Brown Harris Stevens, also released Tuesday, showed the median sales price rose nearly 8 percent during the quarter.

But each report shows a weakening market overall. Inventory has soared and sales volume has slowed. And this is likely just the beginning.

“Most of these (fourth-quarter) sales were negotiated before Lehman Brothers collapsed. The anxiety has intensified. We’ll see more of an effect in the upcoming quarters,” said Gregory Heym, chief economist at Brown Harris Stevens.

The luxury market started to totter in September when the stock markets tanked and major Wall Street firms started to vanish. Wealthy homeowners have since cut their asking prices, trying to move properties before the bleeding gets worse.

“You’ve got a market where suddenly people don’t have the wealth they had before. Those who helped to build Wall Street to the stratosphere don’t know what their futures look like now,” said Rick Goodwin, publisher of Ultimate Homes and its parent publication Unique Homes.

Nearly 42 percent of the 259 Manhattan homes currently listed for $10 million or more were dumped on the market since September, according to StreetEasy.com, a New York City listings web site.

Dubai Investment Properties (DIP), one of the leading real estate developers in UAE, today announced the launch of its exclusive multi-million ‘Sunset’ mixed-use development project in Dubai. The signature ‘Sunset’ development will include a high-end luxury shopping mall, boutique offices and lavish residential apartments in the heart of Dubai, along beach road in the upscale Jumeira 3 neighbourhood and stretching out into the waters of the Arabian Gulf.

“Sunset will be a unique development combining the best in architecture and the latest ‘green’ technology initiatives. It will be a real piece of art, where sophisticated, intellectual and brand-conscious customers can indulge their tastes for opulence and high living, with exclusive facilities and services. Sunset will set new standards in shopping in Dubai and will become the preferred venue for customers, who appreciate discretion, exclusive service and an ambience of elegance and class,” says Mr. Francois Faure, Executive Director, DIP.

With the launch of Sunset, Dubai Investment Properties plans to set a new parameter in luxury retail experience for customers looking to buy high-end international brands and become the most prestigious address for lifestyle seekers in Dubai. Sunset Mall will host over 97 outlets with a strong retail mix, including new high-end retail store concepts as well as international boutique brands. The mall will also offer customers VIP services and fine dining experiences with gourmet food restaurants, all of which will offer panoramic views of the Arabian Gulf.

Sunset will feature engaging architecture designed to showcase the best of international and local designers. Arkiteknik International, the architects for this development, have combined water, glass and steel at the Sunset Mall to offer retailers and guests an experience like never before. The interior of the Mall will feature the latest innovations in LCD and LED technology, offering visual effects not seen anywhere else in the city.

This year will be among the worst for the U.S. commercial real estate industry, as unemployment leads to a drop of as much as 30 percent in rents in some places and more office towers from Washington to Chicago and Los Angeles sit empty, according to several research reports from large commercial real estate service companies.

“2009 is going to be dismal for commercial real estate,” said John F. Sikaitis, director of research for Jones Lang LaSalle, a real estate services company. “Demand for space is way down. Sales activity is down. Rents are falling dramatically and vacancies are increasing. That’s forcing landlords to compete and lower their rents.”

Nationally, rents are expected to drop 10 to 15 percent. Manhattan rates could drop as much 30 percent. Nationally, the vacancy rate is likely to rise to 18 percent from 15.3 percent, Sikaitis said. Especially hard hit could be places where there’s a lot of office construction, including the Washington region, Miami, Atlanta, Chicago and Houston.

This comes as billions of dollars in loans on office buildings, malls and warehouses are coming due in the next few years and real estate owners are struggling to refinance their deals. That could lead to banks taking back properties and force some owners to sell at a loss.

Roughly $107 billion worth of hotels, office buildings and shopping centers are in trouble, ranging from mortgage delinquency to foreclosure, according to a report from Real Capital Analytics, a research firm.

“It’s not going to be a good 2009,” said Dan Fasulo, managing director at Real Capital. “We’re at the point where a normal, functioning market doesn’t exist. Buyers are there, but they don’t necessarily want to make an acquisition. Pile on top of everything that we don’t have a functioning debt market. It creates paralysis in the market.”

New York is projected to be among the hardest hit. The financial services industry there has been decimated by job losses, and companies are dumping office space back on the market. In Chicago, a 12 percent vacancy rate is expected to reach 15 percent or higher by the end of 2009. And in Orange County, Calif., vacancy rates could hit 19 percent from 15 percent in 2007.