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Take a Virtual Tour of the Most Expensive Apartment in NYC

Plus: Toronto luxury real estate sale boom continues, and more

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Inside Susan Gutfreund's $120 million Fifth Ave. duplex.

Cary Horowitz / Brown Harris Stevens
Inside Susan Gutfreund's $120 million Fifth Ave. duplex.
Cary Horowitz / Brown Harris Stevens

Daily Briefing: April 29, 2016

Top Story

Take a tour of John and Susan Gutfreund's $120 million Fifth Ave. home Broker Brown Harris Stevens' listing is a mouthwatering virtual tour of the most expensive apartment ever marketed in New York City. Susan Gutfreund, widow of the former banker and socialite, is putting the 20-room duplex apartment, with 12-and-a-half-foot ceilings, on the market because it's too big for one person. The Gutfreunds were the poster children of Wall Street's 1980s era of excess. (BHS) Also See: $120 Million for a Fifth Avenue Co-Op With a 1,600 Square-Foot Master Suite

Talking Points

At $2.3 million, Des Moines brickmaker's mansion would be city's priciest sale The 1950 home of Robert Goodwin, a local brickmaker, banker and former U.S. congressman, sits on nearly an acre, and features four bedrooms and six bathrooms in the 5,869-square-foot home, as well as a heated saltwater pool, a four-car garage and a small orchard. The home is on Foster Drive, which has a string of mansions built in the 1920s.  Goodwin had special bricks made so his home would fit in. (Des Moines Register) Toronto luxury real estate sale boom continues An unprecedented number of luxury home sales have been reported in one of Canada's frothiest markets, with 500 properties worth more than $2 million sold in Toronto between January 1 and March 31, a 79-percent increase over the year before. "Economic improvement, low interest rates, greater stability in the stock market and a solid American greenback are all contributing to heated market conditions in the Greater Toronto Area," said one broker. (Mortgage News Canada) Plans for Manhattan 'Billionaires Row' Condo Tower revived with Chinese aid The plan to transform Manhattan’s Park Lane Hotel into a 1,210-foot luxury condo tower may be back on track after a Chinese developer said it's buying in to the project. In January, lead developer Steve Witkoff said “velocity” in the super-luxury market had slowed. The new Gary Handel-designed skyscraper would sell apartments at $8,000 to $9,000 per square foot. Current luxury pricing averaged $2,800 per foot in the first quarter. (New York Post) Qatar developers ignore downturn and plan to keep on building A slowing economy and declining demand for homes, offices and retail space hasn’t stopped several of the Gulf state's largest developers from unveiling plans for entirely new “urban communities” and luxury homes believing that there is still plenty of demand for high-end and upper-middle-class homes.  “Even though the market is slowing … we’re not looking at the short term," said one developer. "These are long-term projects.” (Doha News) Also See: Bangladesh businesses want amnesty for cash real estate investments (Daily Star) Motley Crue rocker Tommy Lee lists Calabassas home for $6 million (Los Angeles Times) Rising New York City rents spur new ‘suburban moment’ in house sales (Westchester Business Journal) It's cheaper to live in a 4-star hotel in most of Europe than rent a flat in London (Telegraph) Hong Kong’s repo man back at work, as harsh economy fuels foreclosures (South China Morning Post)