No word from Jim Rogers if he is buying .. (Reuters) - Wall Street's biggest bears are buying a piece of the Big Apple. Nouriel Roubini and John R. Taylor, better known as the "Dr. Dooms" of the financial industry, and John Paulson, the hedge fund manager who made massively successful bets on when the housing bubble would burst, are among the Wall Street crowd who have recently purchased New York City houses. It is perhaps the most positive sign for Manhattan property since the financial crisis hit in 2008. "I bought an apartment in Manhattan, which seems insane," Taylor, who runs the world's largest hedge fund at FX Concepts, told Reuters last month. Roubini, the New York University economist best known for predicting the world banking collapse and who warned in 2006 the "United States was likely to face a once-in-a-lifetime housing bust," also bought a $5.5 million condominium in Manhattan. Paulson purchased a condo on ritzy Fifth Avenue for $2.85 million. Roubini and Paulson declined to comment, but the deals were confirmed by public records, which showed they bought in the final two months of last year. Real estate agents for Manhattan's elite say they have seen a surge in interest from the securities industry, which accounts for almost 35 percent of all salaries and wages in the city, as it recovers from the meltdown following Lehman Brothers collapse in September 2008. Multimillion-dollar holiday home sales in the Hamptons -- the area of Long Island beaches known as Wall Street's playground -- have also started to pick up, they said. New York City's fortunes are closely tied to the financial industry. Everything from Manhattan real estate prices to high-end restaurants and private car services came under severe pressure in 2008 and 2009 when highly paid investment bankers and traders faced job losses and smaller bonuses. "Bonuses are supposed to be good and the stock market has perked up," said Michele Kleier, president of high-end real estate agency Gumley Haft Kleier. "It's not 2007, but it's so much better than in 2009." The bonus pool for 2010 performance is widely expected to top the 2009 payout of $20.3 billion. Many bankers and brokers earn a base salary of $200,000-$500,000, and can at least double that with bonuses, which are typically paid out in January and February. The biggest players on Wall Street, many of whom travel extensively in Europe and Asia, can also be forgiven for thinking that Manhattan apartments are at bargain basement prices compared with some of the big financial centers elsewhere. A 3,000 square foot luxury apartment in London would cost on average around $7.5 million, while in Hong Kong it could be $5.1 million. By comparison, a new New York apartment of that size would set you back $4.5 million, according to a comparison conducted by Jones Lang LaSalle. Kleier has been showing buyers around an 8,360-square feet $27.5 million apartment across from the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Two of her clients, both from Wall Street, have expressed interest in the 13-room, 9 bathroom apartment with views of Central Park. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70H61Z20110118
Reuters needs to hire either a fact-checker or a proofreader. FX Concepts is NOT the world's largest hedge fund. That honor goes to Bridgewater. Also...why is it so "insane", Mr. Taylor, for you to buy an apartment in Manhattan? You have more than enough money to do so, and that is exactly what wealthy hedge fund managers do.
The writer probably meant FX Concepts is the world's largest currency hedge fund. Apparently as of 2010, Bridgewater is ranked the second largest hedge fund in the world, at $89 billion, after JPMorgan Chase & Co (between its JPMorgan Asset Management and Highbridge Capital Management units) with Paulson & Co. in third place. In any case, it pays to be the doomsayer. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgewater_Associates
John Paulson bidding for Taylor Morrison, which is based in Scottsdale, Arizona, is best known in Florida for its 2,000 homes at the Country Club at Mirasol in Palm Beach Gardens, which hosts a PGA Tour golf event. It also builds in Arizona, California, Colorado and Texas. The company was the 13th-largest U.S. homebuilder in 2009, according to trade publication Builder Magazine. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70I43120110119 British homebuilder Taylor Wimpey (TW.L) has received at least three bids for its North American assets, which could be worth about $950 million, people familiar with the matter said. Hedge fund billionaire John Paulson's Rain Tree Investment Corp, Barry Sternlicht's Starwood Capital Group and a private U.S. homebuilder have submitted bids for Taylor Wimpey's North American operations -- called Taylor Morrison in the United States -- several sources said.