Bubble Wrap: August 2009

City Dealing to Make Luxe Condos Cheaper

The Post reports on the city’s push to expand their affordable housing portfolio by putting vacant apartments on the market at steep discounts. Negotiations are underway with a few banks who may be eager to unload their foreclosed property, but the banks would have to take significant losses.

A $500,000 luxury condo might be marked down to $300,000, suggested Rafael Cestero, the city housing commissioner.

In return for the markdown, developers or bankers would get up to a $50,000 city subsidy for each apartment.

He added that if the prices are right, the city would be prepared to buy unfinished buildings, as well as those where at least 50 percent of the units are empty.

The 15 biggest winners and losers since the crunch

With the approaching 1 year anniversary of Lehman’s collapse,The Real Deal takes a look at the best and worst deals since the onset of the credit crunch.

“Worst deals” included record-breaking purchases like the GM Building, although Mort Zuckerman, chairman of Boston Properties, told The Real Deal he still considers it “the best purchase we’ve ever made” when viewed as a long-term investment. Also singled out as a not-so-savvy investment were individual apartment sales like one at Julian Schnabel’s Palazzo Chupi, where a Wall Street buyer paid $15.5 million only to see the value plummet by 55 percent, doubling the declines seen in the overall market.