Hedge funds

Bankers Buying in London: Luxury Home Prices on the Rise

After 17 months of misery, luxury home prices in London are finally up on an annual basis. Banking and hedge fund industry professionals are spending money again, largely because they're being paid again. Homes with values of above $1.6 million appreciated 1.6 percent in November compared to the same month last year. This was the first annual increase since June 2008. Nonetheless, prices remain 15 percent lower than the March 2008 peak. From October to November, prices grew 1.2 percent.

Liam Baily, head of residential research at Knight Frank, told Bloomberg News, "Anecdotal evidence from across our offices suggests that City money is becoming more apparent as we get closer to the end-of-year bonus season," continuing, "Demand from senior management is driving the market." Bonuses could wind up growing by 50 percent this year to 6 billion pounds in London's largest financial districts, and professionals in this industry are responsible for half the city's demand for luxury homes.

For homes at prices of more than $16 million, the price increases are even better: 1.9 percent from October to November this year. Residences in Chelsea, Kensington and Knightsbridge got the biggest boosts.

This has led to a bit of optimism. Luxury real estate could reach May 2008 levels by 2012, up to two years earlier than expected.

Source

Tags: bank, banker, bankers, banking, banking sector, BankingSector, Chelsea, hedge fund, Hedge Fund Managers, Hedge funds, HedgeFund, HedgeFundManagers, HedgeFunds, kensington, knightsbridge, london, London England, LondonEngland, luxury real estate, LuxuryRealEstate, real estate, RealEstate, united kingdom, UnitedKingdom

Cheese Heir Gets Estate Back From Young Hedge Funder

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Another tale of hedge fund woe has led to a quickie auction. WGRZ in Buffalo, New York tells the story of the most expensive estate in Erie County which recently went up for auction and ended up back in the hands of its original owner. Last year 22-year-old Michael Wilson, said to be a hedge funder from Cleveland, bought a huge estate on Boston State Road in Hamburg from John Russo, one of the heirs to the Sorrento Cheese company. He paid more than six million dollars, putting down two million dollars and arranging for a mortgage of more than four million dollars with Russo.

In May, Wilson was supposed to make a one million dollar payment on the mortgage but didn't. Russo started foreclosure proceedings. In July, FBI agents seized Wilson's computers, records and documents. Wilson hasn't been charged with a crime yet but it's believed that he may have taken money from investors to make that $2 million down payment on the estate. The estate, which is actually two separate homes of around 15,000 square feet each, was auctioned off and no one else bid so the homes reverted to Russo who got to keep the $2 million. The two homes will eventually be put back on the market.

Source

Tags: buffalo, hedge funds, HedgeFunds, sorrento