The Short Life and Sudden Death of the $100 Million Condo

The crazed lust for sky-high condo apartments with sky-high prices and knee-buckling views has officially expired, according to the New York Times. The cause of death was that ever-lethal combination: a glut of supply and a dearth of demand. The frenzy, centered on Billionaires' Row in midtown Manhattan, was just shy of its sixth birthday.

As the Times obituary states: “New York City’s ultra-luxury real estate frenzy – with its sky-piercing condominium towers and $100 million price tags – has finally come to an end.”

Additional factors contributing to the death include: uncertainty over fallout of the Brexit vote; new U.S. federal government scrutiny of foreign buyers who paid cash for trophy apartments as a way of laundering ill-gotten gains; China’s tightened restrictions of capital outflow; sliding oil prices; and rising taxes.

An informal burial service will be held at noon today in Central Park, in the long shadow cast by 157 West 57th Street, a 90-story, blue-glass abomination developed by Extell. Few New Yorkers – other than the developers who put up supertall towers, and the brokers who sold the apartments inside them for obscene prices – are expected to attend.