News-Antique.com - Feb 13,2008 - Christie’s Great Estates is Largest International Network of Real Estate Brokers Specializing in the Marketing and Sales of High-Value Properties
NEW YORK AND LONDON (February 8, 2008)—A survey of the world’s leading luxury real estate brokerages that comprise the Christie’s Great Estates international network reveals that despite the widely reported downturn in housing, high-value real estate in many markets worldwide have sold in record numbers and at record prices.
“Recent news stories about housing prices have failed to report on the robust sales achievements in the luxury real estate sector,” says Kay Coughlin, President and CEO of Christie’s Great Estates, the world’s leading luxury real estate organization. “The high-end category worldwide continues to outperform expectations.”
The sustained strength of the luxury real estate category mirrors the sustained confidence in fine art, as demonstrated by the history-making year-end results for Christie’s International plc, the world’s leading art business and parent company of Christie’s Great Estates. Christie’s global art sales totaled $6.3 billion last year. In February of 2008, confidence in the fine art market was underscored at London’s Impressionist & Modern Art Sale, which realized a total of $207.4 million, the second-highest total ever for an art auction in Europe. The top-selling lot, Pablo Picasso’s Femme au chapeau, realized $11,281,560, almost double its high estimate. Two days later, Triptych 1974-77 by Francis Bacon sold for $51.7 million, making it the most valuable Post-War and Contemporary work ever sold in Europe.
The affiliates of the Christie’s Great Estates network report similarly strong first-quarter results in 2008. What follows are reports and comments from a sampling of Christie’s Great Estates affiliates on the vigorous state of their local luxury real estate markets.
New York, New York: The residential real estate market in Manhattan finished exceptionally strong in the fourth quarter of 2007, achieving a new record average price of $1,430,514 for Manhattan apartments, a 34-percent gain over the same period the previous year. The number of sales for apartments priced above $10 million tripled. “The factors that make our market healthy continue to provide stability, and we are seeing this positive effect most at the high end,” says Hall F. Willkie, president of Brown Harris Stevens.
Westchester County, New York: Sales were up 28 percent from 2006 for homes priced above $2.5 million, according to Houlihan Lawrence, which recently closed on Cassiobury, a country manor last offered at $12 million and constructed of architectural elements reclaimed from a 16th Century English estate.
Greater Tri-State New York: The Hamptons and North Fork reports that 50 homes priced at $5 million and above have sold, gone to contract, or had an offer accepted in the past two months, says Charles Manger of Brown Harris Stevens. A Greenwich estate in the exclusive Round Hill enclave, represented by David Ogilvy & Associates, sold for $30 million in January.
Texas and Oklahoma: In these oil economies, the Christie’s Great Estate affiliate brokerages reported record sales in 2007. Martha Turner Properties in Houston saw a 19-percent increase over 2006
