The Citizen (KZN)

Trump Tower slumps

5TH AVENUE BUILDING FALLING FROM FAVOUR WITH MANY Real estate agents in New York paint a picture of a decline in condo prices.

- New York

For Todd Brassner, an art dealer who died in a fire that ripped through his Trump Tower apartment last weekend, the New York highrise he lived in for two decades became unbearable after Donald Trump announced he was running for president.

Brassner’s experience trying to sell his 50th-floor condominiu­m in the building that is both President Donald Trump’s gilded New York home and headquarte­rs of his business empire is emblematic of how a high-rise that once defined luxury has lost its lustre.

In an overwhelmi­ngly Democratic city, the 5th Avenue building that blares the name of the Republican president has fallen from favour with many New Yorkers and been eclipsed in the super luxury market by nearby new entrants.

Real estate agents paint a picture of a decline in condo prices that outstrips declines in similar properties.

Brassner, who died last Saturday in a fire that torched his collection of vintage guitars and Andy Warhol artwork, decided to sell his 106m² apartment after being ground down by the the constant presence of armed guards and Secret Service agents, his friends said.

But Brassner, who paid $525 000 (R5.3 million) for the home in 1996, according to property deeds, failed to find a buyer willing to come close to the $2.5 million value put on the condo in his 2015 personal bankruptcy filing.

A Trump Tower condo similar in size to Brassner’s sold for $1.8 million in December, after being advertised as “PRICED TO SELL”, according to real estate website StreetEasy.

Many older luxury buildings on New York’s East Side have lost value after a surge in new developmen­ts that tower above them in height and price. Even so, discounts at Trump Tower, opened in 1983, have been deeper than the market average, according to real estate brokers.

“Clearly the Trump candidacy and presidency have had a negative impact on the real estate values” at Trump Tower, said Wendy Maitland, a broker with Brown Harris Stevens, who last year listed a fashion industry client’s three-bedroom, $7.5 million condo, 39CD, at the tower that failed to sell.

To be sure, brokers pointed out that there are many foreign buyers who covet an apartment in the same building as the US president’s condo. And the Trump Organisati­on, which manages Trump Tower units, said the building remained one of the most prestigiou­s properties in the world.

“It has the most discerning residents and continues to be a global icon,” spokespers­on Amanda Miller said.

Still, prices at Trump Tower have dropped 30% per square metre compared with an 8% fall in comparable properties on Manhattan’s Midtown East Side, according to New York real estate site CityRealty.com

By comparison, prices at Olympic Tower, a 1975 Midtown building likened to Trump Tower that is a few blocks south on Fifth Avenue, dropped 21% since 2015. That contrasts with a 29% rise in prices in the area, including new developmen­ts, over the same period.

At Trump Tower, “there’s currently 22 units on the market, which is a statement in and of itself”, said Maitland, adding that only half that number were on offer in 2015.

Guests arriving at Trump Tower now face airport-style security screening by the Secret Service. Brassner complained of waiting for hours to get into the building when Trump was in town.

The protests that engulfed the tower in the first months after Trump’s election victory have died down. But animosity toward the president remains strong among some residents, in a city where Democratic presidenti­al candidate Hillary Clinton won 87% of the vote in 2016.

Richard Tayar, a salesman with Keller Williams NYC, said several owners wanted to disassocia­te themselves from Trump after the election and put their homes on the market.

“There are people who want to disengage from it because of the name," said Tayar, who is listing a two-bedroom Trump Tower unit for $3.8 million. “Obviously they have different political views and want nothing to do with it.”

On the other hand, many internatio­nal buyers still see Trump Tower as prime real estate, and want its 5th Avenue address, he said.

“There are people who are making offers; they are low-balling the offers,” said Tayar.

Not all Trump-branded properties in New York face headwinds. Newer developmen­ts such as Trump Place, completed in the late ’90s and early 2000s on the West Side near Lincoln Centre, have showed price gains.

Maitland is advising her Trump Tower client to sit tight until prices improve and enjoy the condo when in town for fashion shows.

Clearly the Trump candidacy and presidency have had a negative impact. Wendy Maitland Real estate broker at Brown Harris Stevens

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