Donald Trump, a tycoon of real estate, has been elected to govern the country, but what will his dominion mean for luxury real estate? The answer is in the balance.
On the one hand, real estate experts in London and the United States say that Americans can expect a storm of economic volatility to hit their country, similar as befell Britain in Brexit's wake. On the other hand, other experts claim that Britain attracted an uptick of buyers due to the depreciated pound; America will, too, they say.
One cautious agent, Monica Venegas, who is owner of Venegas International Group in Miami, insists that “Miami will always be a global destination with investors from around world." "Miami is still a bargain at more than $3000 per square feet for top luxury compared to New York, London, Singapore, and so forth, that go from $6000 to $10,000 per square feet for luxury,” she says.
If ever there was a time to invest in luxury real estate, it’s now, before Trump gets anointed.
"It's a great time now for buyers to buy in Miami, as they have a small window of opportunity, where both developers and sellers will entertain a price reduction from list price,” Venegas adds.
Not that Trump won't be good for real estate. But prices will rise, and that pane of opportunity will be shuttered.
According to Venegas, "That window will close in 2017 with Trump as president and Wall Street booming again under his leadership." She adds, "The Dow Jones already skyrocketed this week.”
Jill Hertzberg and Jill Eber of The Jills with Coldwell Banker say that uncertainty can rattle the stock market, which impacts the high-end luxury market. An unpredictable Trump government may cause short-term volatility; although, the market may rebound the next day.
"It’s hard to have a crystal ball, but the Miami market will really depend on the growth of the economy in the next year, both here in the U.S. and economies around the globe," they note. "The world is so interconnected, and we are very dependent on what happens in our feeder markets. We are a primary as well as a second- and third-home market, and we are very attractive [for] our favorable taxation [and] reasonable pricing compared to the Northeast U.S., California, Europe, and Brazil, and [the U.S. is] a safe country for capital flight."
In Germany, Farhad Vladi, a German broker and founder of Vladi Private Islands, which specializes in private island sales, declared the U.S. an evergreen location for luxury real estate, regardless of political change.
Peter Wetherell, CEO of Wetherell and a leading London real estate broker, is even more optimistic. “A Trump win,” he says, “will bring a property industry leader into the White House for the first time in American history.”
And then there are the questions: What about Latino investors, and rising interest rates, and China’s attitude to America, and inflation, and immigration policies, and on and on.
Whether the Trump presidency will be pro-property and pro-prosperity is still to be seen.
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