<TABLE style="WIDTH: 339pt; mso-cellspacing: 0in; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in" class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=452><TBODY><TR style="mso-yfti-irow: 0; mso-yfti-firstrow: yes"><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #f0f0f0; BORDER-LEFT: #f0f0f0; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; WIDTH: 339pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: #f0f0f0; BORDER-RIGHT: #f0f0f0; PADDING-TOP: 0in" vAlign=top width=452>Published July 16, 2009
</TD></TR><TR style="mso-yfti-irow: 1; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes"><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #f0f0f0; BORDER-LEFT: #f0f0f0; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; WIDTH: 339pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: #f0f0f0; BORDER-RIGHT: #f0f0f0; PADDING-TOP: 0in" vAlign=top width=452>Rich Russians are back in US property market
They are lured by distressed sales and the rouble's rise against the US dollar
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</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>(MOSCOW) Russian millionaires are returning to the US property market, lured by distressed sales and the rouble's rise against the US dollar, lawyer Edward Mermelstein said.
<TABLE style="WIDTH: 75pt; mso-cellspacing: 1.5pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in; mso-table-lspace: 2.25pt; mso-table-rspace: 2.25pt; mso-table-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-table-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-table-left: left" class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellPadding=0 width=100 align=left><TBODY><TR style="mso-yfti-irow: 0; mso-yfti-firstrow: yes"><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #f0f0f0; BORDER-LEFT: #f0f0f0; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0.75pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; PADDING-LEFT: 0.75pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 0.75pt; BORDER-TOP: #f0f0f0; BORDER-RIGHT: #f0f0f0; PADDING-TOP: 0.75pt">
</TD></TR><TR style="mso-yfti-irow: 1; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes"><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #f0f0f0; BORDER-LEFT: #f0f0f0; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0.75pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; PADDING-LEFT: 0.75pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 0.75pt; BORDER-TOP: #f0f0f0; BORDER-RIGHT: #f0f0f0; PADDING-TOP: 0.75pt">Tumbling: Closings for apartments priced over US$10m in Manhattan fell by 82% in the last year, helping bring the average co-op price down 29% from Q2 of 2008
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>'The way many look at the US right now is that it's a bargain,' said Mr Mermelstein, who has arranged about 300 real estate deals for buyers from the former Soviet Union since 2007.
Mr Mermelstein, 41, closed two purchases and bid for 20 more residential and commercial properties in New York and Miami for Russian and central Asia clients in the past three months, he said. That compares with no deals or offers in January, he said.
Manhattan apartment prices dropped for the first time since 2002 in the second quarter as the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc and Bear Stearns Cos caught up to property owners in the nation's most expensive urban market.
The rouble rallied about 13 per cent against the US dollar from this year's low on Feb 17 and 4 per cent against the pound sterling from a Feb 6 low.
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</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>US sellers are cutting prices 30 per cent to 40 per cent from their peak in 2007, Mr Mermelstein said in an interview here, where his firm has an office.
'All of a sudden in the last three months activity's picked up,' he said.
More than half of the 15 or so Russians he's helping find US property are new clients, he said.
'Now that oil has settled at about US$70 a barrel, there's a little bit of a comfort level,' he said.
Oil has averaged US$60.14 a barrel in New York trading since April, rising as high as US$72.68 on June 11.
Last year's plunging commodity and equity markets wiped out US$380 billion in the value of Russia's so-called Golden Hundred, according to Forbes.
Closings for apartments priced over US$10 million in Manhattan fell by 82 per cent in the last year, helping bring the average co-operative price down 29 per cent from Q2 of 2008, according to Brown Harris Stevens Co.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
</TD></TR><TR style="mso-yfti-irow: 1; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes"><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #f0f0f0; BORDER-LEFT: #f0f0f0; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; WIDTH: 339pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: #f0f0f0; BORDER-RIGHT: #f0f0f0; PADDING-TOP: 0in" vAlign=top width=452>Rich Russians are back in US property market
They are lured by distressed sales and the rouble's rise against the US dollar
<TABLE style="WIDTH: 102pt; mso-cellspacing: 3.0pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in; mso-table-lspace: 2.25pt; mso-table-rspace: 2.25pt; mso-table-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-table-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-table-left: right; mso-table-top: middle" class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellSpacing=4 cellPadding=0 width=136 align=right><TBODY><TR style="mso-yfti-irow: 0; mso-yfti-firstrow: yes"><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #f0f0f0; BORDER-LEFT: #f0f0f0; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0.75pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; PADDING-LEFT: 0.75pt; WIDTH: 15pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 0.75pt; BORDER-TOP: #f0f0f0; BORDER-RIGHT: #f0f0f0; PADDING-TOP: 0.75pt" width=20>
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</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>(MOSCOW) Russian millionaires are returning to the US property market, lured by distressed sales and the rouble's rise against the US dollar, lawyer Edward Mermelstein said.
<TABLE style="WIDTH: 75pt; mso-cellspacing: 1.5pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in; mso-table-lspace: 2.25pt; mso-table-rspace: 2.25pt; mso-table-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-table-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-table-left: left" class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellPadding=0 width=100 align=left><TBODY><TR style="mso-yfti-irow: 0; mso-yfti-firstrow: yes"><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #f0f0f0; BORDER-LEFT: #f0f0f0; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0.75pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; PADDING-LEFT: 0.75pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 0.75pt; BORDER-TOP: #f0f0f0; BORDER-RIGHT: #f0f0f0; PADDING-TOP: 0.75pt">
</TD></TR><TR style="mso-yfti-irow: 1; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes"><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #f0f0f0; BORDER-LEFT: #f0f0f0; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0.75pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; PADDING-LEFT: 0.75pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 0.75pt; BORDER-TOP: #f0f0f0; BORDER-RIGHT: #f0f0f0; PADDING-TOP: 0.75pt">Tumbling: Closings for apartments priced over US$10m in Manhattan fell by 82% in the last year, helping bring the average co-op price down 29% from Q2 of 2008
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>'The way many look at the US right now is that it's a bargain,' said Mr Mermelstein, who has arranged about 300 real estate deals for buyers from the former Soviet Union since 2007.
Mr Mermelstein, 41, closed two purchases and bid for 20 more residential and commercial properties in New York and Miami for Russian and central Asia clients in the past three months, he said. That compares with no deals or offers in January, he said.
Manhattan apartment prices dropped for the first time since 2002 in the second quarter as the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc and Bear Stearns Cos caught up to property owners in the nation's most expensive urban market.
The rouble rallied about 13 per cent against the US dollar from this year's low on Feb 17 and 4 per cent against the pound sterling from a Feb 6 low.
<TABLE style="mso-cellspacing: 0in; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in; mso-table-lspace: 2.25pt; mso-table-rspace: 2.25pt; mso-table-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-table-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-table-left: left" class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 align=left><TBODY><TR style="mso-yfti-irow: 0; mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes"><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #f0f0f0; BORDER-LEFT: #f0f0f0; PADDING-BOTTOM: 3.75pt; PADDING-LEFT: 3.75pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 3.75pt; BACKGROUND: white; BORDER-TOP: #f0f0f0; BORDER-RIGHT: #f0f0f0; PADDING-TOP: 3.75pt"><TABLE style="WIDTH: 1.5in; mso-cellspacing: 0in; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in; mso-table-lspace: 2.25pt; mso-table-rspace: 2.25pt; mso-table-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-table-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-table-left: left" class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=144 align=left><TBODY><TR style="mso-yfti-irow: 0; mso-yfti-firstrow: yes"><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #f0f0f0; BORDER-LEFT: #f0f0f0; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: #f0f0f0; BORDER-RIGHT: #f0f0f0; PADDING-TOP: 0in" vAlign=bottom>
</TD></TR><TR style="mso-yfti-irow: 1"><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #f0f0f0; BORDER-LEFT: #f0f0f0; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BACKGROUND: #fffff1; BORDER-TOP: #f0f0f0; BORDER-RIGHT: #f0f0f0; PADDING-TOP: 0in"><TABLE style="WIDTH: 93pt; mso-cellspacing: 0in; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in" class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=124><TBODY><TR style="mso-yfti-irow: 0; mso-yfti-firstrow: yes"><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #ffffff; BORDER-LEFT: #ffffff; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: #ffffff; BORDER-RIGHT: #ffffff; PADDING-TOP: 0in" vAlign=top>US sellers are cutting prices 30 per cent to 40 per cent from their peak in 2007.
</TD></TR><TR style="mso-yfti-irow: 1"><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #ffffff; BORDER-LEFT: #ffffff; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: #ffffff; BORDER-RIGHT: #ffffff; PADDING-TOP: 0in" vAlign=top>- Lawyer Edward Mermelstein
</TD></TR><TR style="mso-yfti-irow: 2; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes"><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #ffffff; BORDER-LEFT: #ffffff; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: #ffffff; BORDER-RIGHT: #ffffff; PADDING-TOP: 0in" vAlign=top></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 29.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 2; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes"><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #f0f0f0; BORDER-LEFT: #f0f0f0; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; HEIGHT: 29.25pt; BORDER-TOP: #f0f0f0; BORDER-RIGHT: #f0f0f0; PADDING-TOP: 0in">
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>US sellers are cutting prices 30 per cent to 40 per cent from their peak in 2007, Mr Mermelstein said in an interview here, where his firm has an office.
'All of a sudden in the last three months activity's picked up,' he said.
More than half of the 15 or so Russians he's helping find US property are new clients, he said.
'Now that oil has settled at about US$70 a barrel, there's a little bit of a comfort level,' he said.
Oil has averaged US$60.14 a barrel in New York trading since April, rising as high as US$72.68 on June 11.
Last year's plunging commodity and equity markets wiped out US$380 billion in the value of Russia's so-called Golden Hundred, according to Forbes.
Closings for apartments priced over US$10 million in Manhattan fell by 82 per cent in the last year, helping bring the average co-operative price down 29 per cent from Q2 of 2008, according to Brown Harris Stevens Co.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
