With both resellers and the developer trying to offload apartments, “selling a unit there now would be a horrible mistake,” said Martin Jajan, the attorney who represented the buyer of the discounted 62nd floor apartment last year. For purchasers, he said, “it’s still a well-known building where, if you can get a very steep discount, and you’re willing to speculate on where the luxury market is going, and are also willing to wait four or five years, you might do well” in a resale.
Auction Bidding
Perhaps in that spirit, would-be buyers registered for the right to bid in last week’s auction of the condo owned by shell companies linked to Aluko, who defaulted on a $35.3 million mortgage from a Luxembourg bank and is accused by the U.S. government of laundering money received from illicit government contracts in Nigeria.
The bidding started at $15 million, and went up in minimum increments of $100,000. While the lender, Banque Havilland SA, bowed out before the price reached $20 million, most of the other participants stuck around well after it crossed $30 million.
Even though it’s a foreclosure auction, “when you have multiple parties fighting for this unit, that’s a credible benchmark for value,” said Jonathan Miller, president of Miller Samuel. “It places this type of transaction within the realm of what’s happening in the market.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.