The Russians are coming - hopefully to a luxury high-rise near you

Given the state of the Russian economy, I doubt even New York will get more than a few billionaires.

I'd expect Boston to get a grand total of none.

In another news, foreclosures are up again.

Hmmm....just read today's article in the FT. Russia GDP is down 10% for the first 1/2 of the year (read: depression). In addition, the rouble is declining, which means it's more expensive for a Russian to buy a place in US dollars, than previously. So this article about Russians buying NYC real estate is prob a bit off base. Sure, maybe a few are, but certainly not in volume.

Seriously? One agent closes two deals, and calls the newspaper? That's an anecdote, not a trend.

This story doesn't make sense on multiple levels. Oil prices have barely budged, and are way down from two years ago. Russia's entire population of millionaires is barely 100,000 people, and NYC alone lost 15,000 millionaires last year (out of around 600,000). Take into account that it takes a lot more than $1m in the bank to live, jobless, in a luxury NYC condo, and that of the russians with the means to buy in NYC today, most probably bought in NYC when oil was $100/bbl. I don't doubt that several hundred russian millionaires are buying condos in new york, but in a city of 8 million people, it's not going to buoy the market.

So the rich get richer. Whose going to save the battered areas of the country? Big deal if a bunch of rich foreigners come in and start buying prime property. It's the other 98% of the market that needs help.

"In another news, foreclosures are up again."

But at least Goldman Sachs earned another $3.4 billion last quarter. I guess when you get $10 billion in taxpayer money through the TARP (which they have paid back - of course that was just because they wanted their bonuses back) and another $12 billion in taxpayer money funneled through AIG, it's easy to turn a profit. I guess it's too bad, so sad for the average American who has seen his wealth evaporate over the last few years. I'm sure glad the bankers who run the world are still doing A-OK.

Get rid of liberal socialist and community organizer.

2010 can't come soon enough.

And so is 2012.

It's comical that they compare the NYC luxury apartments to Boston. The "Mandarin" is a decent location, but it pales in comparison to midtown Manhattan, the Upper West Side, or most parts of NYC.

The Boston luxury market is down because it's just not that luxurious of a city. There's a few nice companies here and there, but for the most part it's just a smaller satellite city along the lines of Memphis or Cleveland, but even those places have a little more going for them.

If the Russians were smart and had the money to ride the wave for a few years they would get a handsome return on investment, as it is the time to buy real estate in Massachusetts

spot on MIkey, I have noticed Bostonians in general think their city is the greatest city in the world. I am a native and don't live in Boston anymore. I can say there are many places I would rate better than Boston.

Boston does not offer the chache' that NYC offers for most high-end foreign buyers. However, Boston has the cache' globally as the meca for higher education. Many international students were pushed to Boston by their parents to go to colleges - even the average students. The wealthy children that were recipients of that push to Beantown by their parents also had posh high-end condos. The 90's - mid 2000's had many from Europe, Russia and the Mid-East. The trend will not be the Russians, but the Chinese. Chinese have the 1 child policy, which means that the parents have a very strong interest in the BEST for their children. London and NYC will always be the 1A & 1B choice for the Russians. The new lending standards for condos will result in tough to find financing for the new Lux buildings. All the new lux condo developments will have a hard time getting buyers that can find financing - prices will have a drastic price drop to lure the cash buyers - they are still out there.

Just one little missed point. I don't doubt that the Russians are coming, as they've been buying some serious real estate in Europe already. Only, please, don't call their money "petro rubles", call it what it mostly is, Russian mafia money. Their business is thriving.

it is interesting to here the hype related to foreign and out of town buyers. In Miami, the brokers and builders said all the South Americans would buy everything. In Phoenix, it was all the boomers want to be here. In podunky little waterfront towns in Maine (where I live) the pitch was that all the wealthy Mass and NY people want to be here. And now the industry is hanging it's hat on the Russians "snapping everything up" as though they have endless amounts of cash dying to be put to use by buying illiquid "assets" in a crashing market with no bottom in sight. Surely they're not all as dumb as we Americans who chase every bubble available....

These are cash buyers we are talking about, whether Russians or Chinese or Arabs. Financing is not needed. Americans can now just sit idily by while they watch the last of their country is sold out from under them, as the final act of the Reagan presidency unfolds: cashing in profits from the greed and avarice of the past 30 years. They wanted right-wing Republicans starting in 1980, they got them. They wanted to build McMansions and drive Hummers endlessly and now they will pay a very heavy price for their continuing mistakes.

ah, another NYCer in love w/ his city thinking every other city on the planet just wnats to be NYC. how sad.

Boston has plenty of great companies based here, a great city, is one of the best cities in terms of historical importance in this country, and has a good chunk of wealth based here too. as others have already pointed out, some of the best higher education institutions reside here, and the property prices show that people still won't leave in droves for other, warmer locations even though they easily could.

boston isn't perfect, but it's far from a satellite city and is certainly more desirable on the global scale than memphis or cleveland. nice try though.

ah, another NYCer in love w/ his city thinking every other city on the planet just wnats to be NYC. how sad.

Boston has plenty of great companies based here, a great city, is one of the best cities in terms of historical importance in this country, and has a good chunk of wealth based here too. as others have already pointed out, some of the best higher education institutions reside here, and the property prices show that people still won't leave in droves for other, warmer locations even though they easily could.

boston isn't perfect, but it's far from a satellite city and is certainly more desirable on the global scale than memphis or cleveland. nice try though.