The housing slump has officially hit Manhattan. The collapse of the financial industry and subsequent disintegration of other jobs have taken their toll, and home prices are in steep decline. But there is a silver lining: So far, it seems only the very rich are affected. Today’s Times somberly relates the non-sob-inducing story of Abigail Disney, Walt Disney’s granddaughter, who was forced to drastically reduce the price of her seventeen-room co-op from $13.5 million.
With trophy homes commanding ever higher prices from the titans of finance, Ms. Disney priced the apartment at 20 percent more than she had paid for it only a few months earlier. Harry Belafonte, the singer and actor, had created the huge space many years earlier by breaking through the walls of two smaller apartments.
After a series of price cuts, Ms. Disney has finally found buyers for the property, for just under $7.5 million, a 46 percent discount from her initial asking price. But to make a deal she agreed to restore the walls and convert it back into two apartments and sell it to two buyers.
Tragic.
As Some U.S. Markets Level Off, Housing Slump Hits Manhattan [NYT]
