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Luxury Real Estate News

The Ultimate Crash Pad - Trump Tower (National Post)

Once again I seem to be talking about Donald Trump. Either a), I have developed some kind of obsession, or b), Donald Trump is up to a lot this month. However, this article in the National Post focuses more on DonaldTrump Jr., and the new Trump building that is being constructed in Toronto.

World Real Estate News

How Wall Street’s Bust Threatens Dubai’s Boom (Time Magazine)

The market is Dubai is staying strong, but for how much longer?

South East Asia Property Market Likely to Weather the Global Downturn (PropertyWire.com)

However, it’s a different story in SouthEast Asia, which seems to be weathering the downturn…

U.S. Real Estate Becomes a Game of Chance (The Globe and Mail)

How would you like to buy a $600,000 house for $100? Sounds too good to be true? Some people in the U.S. are so desperate to sell their houses that they are raffling their homes off. But does it pay off?

And for Halloween? A creepy real estate story…

Our Creepy Old House (The Globe and Mail)

If you want to discuss these stories, or any other stories which were in the news in the last couple of weeks, feel free to post below….

Originally I was going to write all about the latest developments in green living. I read a number of articles on and offline about how developers are adding green features, how some real estate agents are biking to viewings and open houses (How do they transport clients? Do they sit on the crossbar? In the basket?), and how many buyers are asking about energy efficient appliances and baulk at the idea of marble counter tops.

However, a couple of weeks ago I read an interesting article in Canada’s Globe and Mail (www.globeandmail.com), where writer Terrence Belford illustrated that in Toronto, despite the fact there are more homes being built to LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design - the Green Building Rating System) standards, there are very few in the ‘luxury market’ (which the Globe and Mail describe as being anything that sells in Toronto for over $600 a square foot). It appears that while the mid to low-range buyers are interested in energy star appliances and recycled materials, luxury buyers are not. In fact, luxury buyers are going in the exact opposite direction – buying huge energy-zapping fridges, asking for counter tops made from nonrenewable stones, gas-fueled stoves and hardwood floors made from rare woods. The writer of this article suspects that “…environmental concerns are not on their list of priorities”.

This, to me, is rather worrisome. We are at a time in history where how we deal with environmental concerns is critical. Everyone, irrespective of their income, should be doing their part – even if it is just recycling their bottles and using reusable shopping bags to buy groceries. The writer of this article comments that most luxury buyers are in their 40s and 50s, and that it is younger buyers and developers who are interested in saving energy, not those who to whom utility bills are something that you ‘don’t pay much attention to”.

I don’t believe that this generalization is entirely the case. Many luxury condo buyers downsize from larger houses, and so there must be an element of that choice that relates to the fact that condos are easier and cheaper to maintain than houses are. Also, ask anyone on the street about their opinions on the environment, and most people will tell you we need to become more energy efficient in our general lives.

However, someone must still be buying those fridges that are bigger than my bathroom – but can’t energy efficiency and luxury go hand in hand? Can’t you have the counter top you’ve always wanted without decimating a small forest? Some developments have the answer.

The Dockside Green Development in Victoria, British Columbia (www.docksidegreen.com) combines luxury with green living. Prices range from a mid range $289,900 to a luxury $1,233,900 for one to two bedroom (plus den) townhouses and condos. This popular development combines high end products with environmentally friendly additions, including:

- 100% fresh air through central or individual heat recovery ventilators

- Low, or no volatile organic compounds, paints, sealants, adhesives, and avoidance of the use of urea-formaldehyde composite wood products

- High-end energy efficient appliances (they do exist!)

- Sewage Treatment: 100% of the sewage is treated on site – and the treated water will be used for flushing toilets, landscape irrigation and water features

- Alternative transportation, which will be readily available through: A car share program, upgraded bike trails, bike racks in the building, harbor ferry dock, transit, and a mini-transit shuttle bus – the point of this being the elimination of a car, or at least of a second car

- Bamboo flooring and kitchen cabinets (there is also an option for cork flooring)

- Salvaged wood products will be used

- Biomass heating, with a back up natural gas fueled boiler – which will make the building greenhouse gas neutral

One look at the interior and exterior shots of this building will show you that this is definitely geared for the high medium to luxury market, and it is paying off – already many units have been sold, including the commercial spaces for a restaurant/pub, a café and a bakery.

At the end of the Globe and Mail article, a developer is quoted as saying that it doesn’t matter what changes are made now, as the changes that are slowing coming through will eventually become the standard, and possibly even law. Therefore anyone who is resistant to these transformations will be left behind. This is an interesting point, but I feel that legal changes may not be as influential as social ones. By this I mean that being environmentally unaware is almost regarded as a stigma, and those who drive SUVs, don’t recycle, and have a freezer as big as a horse may find themselves being scorned by their peers, which is much more damning than any law could every be.

Whatever the reason – social or legal – environmental building is here to stay. And what to say of those changes that I wanted to mention earlier on? Here are some green changes and events that are happening around the world:

- At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, The Wisconsin School of Business Graaskamp Center for Real Estate will host a conference on Sustainable Real Estate Development

- Ecobroker (the first and largest provider of green real estate training for realtors and other licensed real estate professionals) celebrated its 4,000^th member this August

- In Chicago Agent Magazine, K.K.Snyder Reports that in Chicago, the amount of clients who want environmentally friendly homes dramatically outweighs the number of energy efficient houses and condos. People are taking an interest because these houses are not drafty, don’t have ‘hot’ or ‘cold spots’, and are more comfortable for owners, in addition to helping the environment

- Green building rules are to come into effect in Abu Dhabi, in January, 2009. According to Propertywire.com, Abu Dhabi’s Urban Planning Council aims to set new standards for sustainable development, and hopes that this will encourage similar plans throughout the Middle East region

So whatever your budget, consider going green, particularly when choosing your appliances. Being efficient doesn’t mean being cheap. Yes, you may think that people will love your top-of-the-range stainless steel 20ft fridge, with 6 water dispensers, but secretly they’ll be thinking that you’re as bad as those people who drive their Hummers ten meters to mail a letter. There are a number of stores and designers who specialize in creating high-end, environmentally friendly products, so while you may have to search a little harder, it’ll be well worth it in the end.

The views expressed on the blog portion of this site represent only the opinions of the author and may not necessarily be the opinions of Realestock.com

Do you have a view on green building? Do you think that luxury buyers shouldn’t care about the environment? Let us know by posting below! 

Once again, it’s been another week of changes, trials and tribulations. Here’s a round up of some interesting luxury, North American and World stories that were in the news this and last week. If you read anything in the news that you think should be in next week’s blog, feel free to comment on the posting. And I hope our readers in Canada had a lovely Thanksgiving!

Luxury Real Estate News

Athens extends its Luxury Scope (International Herald Tribune) In the last few years, the luxury products market in Greece has increased a great deal, which has inspired a range of luxury building opportunities, including a high retail mall

Concierge Auctions Pleased With Results of Luxury Real Estate Auction (PR-Canada.com) Our partner, Concierge Auctions, have completed a successful Auction in Florida. With the state of the current market, auction houses are finding more properties available for sale at both ends of the market.

Gulf’s, Indian real estate markets to be among best: Survey (India Times) Looks like the luxury market in India, China and the Middle East is still growing, and will outperform all other areas of the world. So that second home in Dubai could be an excellent investment….

General Real Estate News

Buying a condo, one piece at a time (The Real Deal) One innovative way of allowing people without a down payment to get a home is a rent-to-buy scheme, which is currently being tried in Brooklyn, New York. Tenants pay an expensive monthly rent, but do not need to put any money down, so it is a way of saving for your new home, while living in it.

Escape…to the City? This week’s Realestock Blog Post: Many people are choosing to leave their lives in Suburbia and move back to the city…with their kids and pets in tow. Is this a good move? It is worth giving up land and space to be closer to your workplace and favorite coffee shop?

Former Muppet house sells for $28M (The Real Deal) When I first saw this headline, I assumed that it was about Kermit and Miss Piggy’s old place. Unfortunately not….but a nice story nonetheless

Originally, the concept of suburbia was to create a place of community and safety. People moved their families out of the city so that their children would be safe from crime, drug problems, and so that they could be brought up somewhere where everyone knew their neighbors, and where there was a real sense of community.

However, times have changed. Suburban areas are no longer immune to these kinds of problems – a day doesn’t go by where we don’t hear about shootings and other crimes going on in suburbs of any major city. The community element has changed too. People know their neighbors, but many people work long hours in the city, and spend most of their evenings gridlocked in the daily commute, leaving little time for socializing. And I’m not even touching on the effect that rising gas prices have had on the suburban lifestyle, because there’s enough material there for another ten blog posts!

An article in last week’s Globe and Mail Newspaper looked at the growing number of families who are moving from large suburban houses to smaller places in the city. This is becoming a widespread trend all over the world. The families mentioned in the article citied a range of reasons for leaving their suburban houses, including shorter commuting times, more activities for their children, exposure to a more diverse mix of cultures, and close proximity to restaurants, shops and bars.

However, there are a number of plus points to staying in suburbia. If you work from home, it can have many advantages. There are lots of community events and groups, and if you’re not spending your evenings gridlocked somewhere on the 401, then you have the opportunity to really get to know your community. Also, even though crime is rising in the suburbs it very rarely compares to the city, so your kids are still safer in suburbia. Not just that, you get much more space, in terms of indoor square footage, and outdoor acreage, which is tempting when looking at a new home.

It’s an interesting situation. Do you sacrifice the space and tranquility of the suburbs for being five seconds walk from your nearest Starbucks? It’s a hard one. As an ex-English major, I love a good compare/contrast piece, so I had a look at the prices in Bloor West Village (a community in Downtown Toronto) and Caledon, Ontario, a town which is part of the GTA (Greater Toronto Area). I chose these places because they were examples given in the article, and also they are both desirable ‘luxury’ areas of the GTA. I looked at detached houses on MLS.ca priced between $650,000 and $800,000 (average spend for a single detached family house in Bloor West Village seems to be in the high $500,000s) in both areas, and then looked at what you could get for a cool million. The differences were very interesting, although not entirely unexpected:

Caledon, Ontario

In Caledon, $650,000 buys you a three bedroom, four bathroom, two storey detached house, with a saltwater pool in the back yard, and a games room. Said back yard? About five acres

For just over $650,000 you can get a five bed, five bath detached Victorian/Heritage house, which includes a suite to rent out, and has a range of period features, such as vaulted ceilings

For just over a million You can get a four bed, 2.5 bath Victorian house set on 25 acres. Unique features include a stone fireplace, and your own private waterfall(!)

For just under $1,100,000 you can get a hundred acres of land – and a six bedroom, six bathroom house with a workshop and heated stone floors

Toronto (Bloor West Village)

For over $650,000, you can get a four bedroom, two bathroom detached house with features such as a finished basement, and a renovated kitchen

For over $650,000, There is a work/live house which has two offices, one bedroom and three bathrooms. Features include a ‘loft like’ setting, and a renovated basement with a separate entrance

For just over a million you can get a three bed, three bath detached property, with a landscaped yard

For just under $1,100,000 you can get a five bed, five bath ‘Georgian-style’ house with a family rec room, and a nanny suite(!)

While the differences do not seem that monumental, it is worth noting that MLS doesn’t list the acreage on the Toronto properties, which indicates that you get little to no land.

To sum up, it depends entirely on your lifestyle, and how much you have to spend. If you can spend upwards of $600,000, then in either place, you’ll be living in a beautiful and quality house. However, the difference will be the space inside and outside – if you want all the conveniences of living in the city, you have to give up the space and privacy that comes with living in a small town. Granted, the lower costs to keep up a smaller place, plus the lack (or reduced use) of a car, will save you money, but the cost of groceries and house maintenance is much more expensive in the city, compared to a small suburban town.

The views expressed on the blog portion of this site represent only the opinions of the author and may not necessarily be the opinions of Realestock.com

Are you thinking of moving to the city? Or have you already done it? Let us know by posting below!

Welcome to our newest Realestock feature. Every week, Taking ’stock will give you a roundup of the news and views that have arisen in the past week.

Luxury News

What’s on the market: While new record looks unlikely, Palm Beach primed for big deals (The Real Deal, NY)

Looks like luxury homes in Palm Beach are still doing well. Multi million dollar homes are still on the market, and are selling!

Young guns driving enviro-condo push (Globe and Mail)

The Green Movement is growing…but is the luxury market lagging behind? Why aren’t luxury buyers going green?

General North American Real Estate News

Economist debate whether US property market plunge will cross into Canada (Property Wire)

Housing market could soften more but not crash: CIBC (Globe and Mail)

Prudent Canada won’t experience a U.S.-style housing collapse (Vancouver Sun)

There’s been a couple of articles on this in the last week. The bad news? House prices will go down. The very good news? Most economists, including those at CIBC, BMO, and Desjardins, assure us that Canada will not suffer the same crash that the US is currently experiencing.

Loonies find a second home in U.S. real estate (National Post)

Many Canadians are taking advantage of the US property market…by buying vacation homes in the States. But is this a wise buy?

Bailout plan offers vague help to homeowners (Associated Press)

It looks like the bailout may not help those US home owners who are currently losing their houses, but may help to stop a rapid drop in house prices…

Miscellaneous and Fun News

A Million Reasons to Look Globally?

This week on our Realestock Blog: What does your million buy around the world? Will it go further in Paris, London or New York?

Sex and the City’ Writer Bushnell Probes Real Estate (Bloomberg)

Candice Bushnell, famed writer of “Sex and the City” has set her newest novel in the backdrop of Manhattan’s booming real estate market. OK, so she’s a little out of date…but it sounds like a fun read…maybe something to take your mind off the current real estate woes?

I’m in a cab at 58th & 7th in NYC - broke my bluetooth Jawbone headset. No worries - it’s hanging by wires, still working - sort of, if I hold it just right. Anyway, I bought the extra protection plan from the retailer who sold it to me - Sharper Image. “Drop me off on 51st…” - I figure I’ll stop in at the Rockafeller Center Sharper Image and get a replacement. I walk to the Bank of America Building - I find the Shaper Image sign - and the image in the blacked out windows tells the story - the one time leader, high end brand, is closed for good. What happened? About two years ago, before we narrowed our focus on the Connected Market Space technologies to the Realestock.com for the Luxury Real Estate Sector. we were approached to use our platform by the Sharper Image. The entire CMAEON Team and I were excited. We were one of the “lucky” recipients of the final RFP process. We presented our 1to1Connect - MRM3 Product (the predecessor to our newly released 1to1REAL) to the internet marketing Team at the Sharper Image. When we discussed how to make connections, drive these through to the entire organization and “start the conversation marketing online…” we were surprised to see blank stares. “all we want to do is sent out big e mail blasts…” was the response. Our advice that “spamming your customers with generic information is a bad idea …” fell on deaf ears. We were practically begging the people charged with bringing the brand to customers on the web to listen to what they were saying themselves. “you’re the Sharper Image. You have the edge, you need the edge, you need to be a leader, not a follower using old generic distribution of information - you need to have conversations with your customers on the web”  Nothing. For the retailer, who was once viewed as the innovator of gadgets for “…the people who have everything - but this … Crowd”, we were stunned that they could have so much foresight in the past and fail to see the future. This was all happening while the Facebook Kid was still in his dorm room conjuring up social networking - before Rupert Murdoch had myspace. Granted it was early advice - or was it an early warning. I should have shorted the stock then and there! “Hey pull over ….” I said to the cabbie - I was rushing to JFK to catch my flight, but we passed another Sharper Image with the lights still on. “Final Close Out Sale - only 12 days left “, written in big yellow letters in the window. “Hey Buddy, I can’t stop here - what ya wan me ta do ??##**” HONK! Yep, I’m in NY - “Just go to JFK” I looked at my dangling wires and snapped the Jawbone back together once again to make a call.   Hey there’s Brookstone - they seem fine, I thought. I wondered how many more of these big brands we will see falter - I’ll focus on Realestock.com - our Connected Market Space for the high end global real estate market - where we can make sure our clients and the customers are connecting on fronts “wires in tact” in the Connected Market Space. So much for my extended warranty - I think I’ll buy my replacement bluetooth Jawbone on line - I hear they have a newer model that’s smaller and less ugly anyway. Any suggestions of where to shop?

– Tom Taulli

BEIJING, July 9, 2008 /Xinhua-PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — Xinyuan Real Estate Co., Ltd.,  a fast-growing residential real estate developer with a focus on strategically selected Tier II cities in China, today announced that it has been selected as one of China’s Top Fifty “Golden” Overseas-listed Chinese companies by CEO & CIO magazine, a prominent Chinese magazine focused on business management.

“We are delighted to be recognized among this elite group, including peers operating across many different industries in China,” said Mr. Yong Zhang, Xinyuan’s chairman and chief executive officer. “We believe that our disciplined focus on high asset turnover, efficient capital management and strict cost control helped us to be considered as a top overseas-listed Chinese company.”

The publication narrowed its top fifty from a list of 537 medium-to-large China-based companies listed on major stock markets, including the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, NYSE and the Singapore Exchange. The magazine noted that key selection criterion was based on robust revenue growth and high investment returns.

Xinyuan’s compound annual growth rate of approximately 100 percent over the past three years was cited by the magazine as a key factor in Xinyuan’s selection as one of China’s Top Fifty “Golden” Overseas-listed Companies.

About Xinyuan Real Estate Co., Ltd.:

Xinyuan Real Estate Co., Ltd.  is a fast-growing developer of large scale, quality residential real estate projects aimed at providing middle-income consumers with a comfortable and convenient community life. Xinyuan focuses on China’s Tier II cities, characterized as larger, more developed urban areas with above average GDP and population growth rates. Ranked #1 among all property developers in Zhengzhou in terms of contracted sales of residential units for the years 2004, 2005 and 2006, Xinyuan has expanded its network to cover a total population of over 34.5 million people in six strategically selected Tier II cities, comprising Hefei, Jinan, Kunshan, Suzhou, Zhengzhou and Chengdu. Xinyuan has completed 14 projects with a total GFA of over 1.0 million square meters within the past 10 years and as of March 31, 2008, Xinyuan had 8 projects under construction with a total GFA of 1.2 million square meters and five additional projects under planning with total GFA of 1.2 million square meters. Xinyuan is the first real estate developer from China to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. For more information, please visit http://www.xyre.com .

 - Xinyuan Real Estate Co., Ltd.