Condo Buyers, Like Voters, Are Shunning the Trump Brand

If American voters act like New York condo buyers on Election Day, Donald Trump's presidential aspirations are in a world of trouble.

Last week we told you about residents in condos and rentals on the Upper West Side who are circulating petitions to get the T-word – TRUMP – removed from their buildings. Now, eight days before the election, the New York Times reports that apartment buyers are shunning properties that carry the Trump name. Since last November, sales in 10 Trump condominium buildings in the city have plummeted by 26 percent.

To Michael Vargas, a principal of the Manhattan-based Vanderbilt Appraisal Company, the data had clear indications. “There has been a reassessment of that brand, on the part of property owners,” he says. “Where that brand used to enhance value, it is now being perceived as a detraction to value. It’s a slowdown in the real estate market combined with a negative view of the brand.”

Adds Robert Dankner, the president of Prime Manhattan Residential, “He’s turning a lot of people off, with his divisive statements that are directed toward specific nationalities and religions.”