Several Trump Tower Sales In The Toilet, Chris Hayes Taunts On MSNBC
MSNBC host Chris Hayes trashed Trump Tower condo sales on Thursday, noting the Trump brand is so unpopular in Manhattan that prices are plunging.
“The Manhattan real estate market is one of the most expensive in the world, and despite a recent slowdown, it’s still a profitable investment for the vast majority of people who can afford it,” Hayes reported on “All In.”
While only .23% of Manhattan homes sold at a loss over the last two years, several units in Trump Tower have sold at bargain-basement rates at more than a 20% loss over the same period, he said.
The building now ranks as one of the “least desirable luxury properties” in Manhattan, Hayes added.
“I’m telling you, it is a fire sale in there,” quipped Hayes. He pored over current and past sales figures on Street Easy for Trump Tower (721 Fifth Ave.) for comparison prices.
Unit 30-G was listed for $6.9 million during the second month of Trump’s presidency and it just entered a sales contract for $3.5 million, said Hayes, who added: “Ouch!” Another condo that was listed for $18 million during Trump’s campaign is still up for sale after a 50% cut to $8,995,000.
“It’s a bloodbath happening in the middle of one of the world’s strongest real estate markets,” he taunted, “all seemingly due to the five letters on the front of the building.”
Some other not-so-great news: U.S. taxpayers are now the owners of Paul Manafort’s two-bedroom apartment in Trump Tower, which a court on Thursday turned over to the U.S. government. As part of a plea deal with special counsel Robert Mueller, Trump’s former campaign chairman (now in prison) was forced to forfeit five of his New York properties to the government, including the Trump Tower digs, totaling an estimated $22 million.
Don’t expect a good profit when the condo goes up for auction. Manafort paid nearly $3.7 million for it in 2006 — all in cash through a shell company he set up with money from a Russian oligarch, Hayes noted.
A recent article in The Washington Post found that several properties owned by Donald Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, were losing money. A company representative admitted to some “negative connotation” associated with the brand.
Among the remaining stronger performers were businesses through which people can pay to have access to the president or curry favor with him— such as Trump’s often-visited Mar-a-Lago resort or the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C.
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
