Trump Tower Condos Selling at More Than 20 Percent Losses
TARNISHED BRAND
Trump Tower is rapidly becoming one of the least popular luxury apartment blocks for in New York City, Bloomberg News reports, with some owners being forced to sell their condos at more than 20 percent losses. In fact, most condo sales have led to a loss after adjusting for inflation, according to property records, at a time when just 0.23 percent of homes sold in the city over the past two years have lost money. “The name on the building became a problem,” said Michael Sklar, who sold a tower apartment at a loss last year. In the commercial section of the building, more than 42,000 square feet of office space is vacant even though it’s advertising rents that are well below the area’s average. Its overall occupancy rate has descended over the last seven years from 99 percent to 83 percent. And not only Trump Tower has been affected—rounds of golf are down at his course in New York state and a plan to launch a new mid-tier hotel chain across the country has come to nothing.