Friday, April 4, 2014

Miami: new luxury market investors for Latinos

Apparently they are wealthy in this region who have been commissioned to economically lift this city after the 2008 recession .

It seems paradoxical that while walking the streets of Miami have hundreds of commercial signs in their windows that say " we speak Inglés " ( we speak English ) , as an attraction for tourists. A custom that every day becomes more common in this city, even though according to the census of 2010, a growth of the Hispanic population of 20.5 % was recorded, reaching 1.6 million Spanish speakers , compared to 1 3 million they had at the beginning of the decade.

And they appear to be wealthy in Latin America who have been commissioned to economically lift this city , after most experienced recession in the country in 2008 , driving the growth of the luxury industry in the city.

The geographical proximity to the region , climate, its beaches, great entertainment industry, its importance to financial and commercial level , among other factors, have allowed investors and people with high purchasing power of Latin American approach to these latitudes.

A clear example of this is the " Miami Design District ," a newly built neighborhood in an area that was almost forgotten in the city and specializes in luxury shopping , where in the last two years have opened shops from brands like Dior, Cartier, Louis Vuitton , Hermes and Prada , as is happening in Ocean Drive.

Armani / Casa for example, is one of the shops in the Design District , where on average about 80 % of buyers are from Latin America . "For us it is very important that market is crucial ; there is a huge percentage of customers who come from South and Central America. Without the contribution of this region do not know if Miami exist , "says Massimo Melchiorre , CEO of Armani / Casa , adding that " we do not feel the depth of the economic crisis of 2008 , because everything was supported by the Latin American "he said.

A couple of thousand dollars. The average customer spending is $ 50 billion , since when buying not only carry an accessory, but the complete equipment of lamps, tables , chairs, etc. . , Getting to spend in some cases more than U.S. $ 80 billion . "Customers want -foot tables and nothing less. In any case, they do not ask the price , but only the details of the products, " says Melchiorre .

The interior design market is dominated by Brazilians, most of whom purchase a second home in Miami and equipped with furniture Armani. Followers Puerto Ricans , Dominicans, Panamanians, Venezuelans and Argentines, who mostly buy furniture to bring to their residence in each country.

"Usually we do not ship from here, but I can say that tired arm around a container to send to their countries; that's one reason why there is not Armani / Casa in Latin America , because they prefer to buy here because it goes less expensive "emphasizes CEO of Armani / Casa .

However, such is the demand in Brazil , which will open a new store concession in Brazil , which will add to the 65 they currently possess in 35 countries in June.

Housing industry. This industry was one of the hardest hit after the crisis and the spending power of travelers from Latin America also noted . Many wealthy bought homes in the region that had not been sold in the domestic market.

Thus , architects and real estate developers wanted to take advantage of the booming , building new projects. Costa is the case of Hollywood, a new condominium located between Miami and Palm Beach, where 50% of the properties that have sold before officially launching the project , 60% of the suppliers comes from Brazil , Chile and Argentina .

" South America is very on top of everything that is going on in Miami ," stresses Moses Besusan , President and CEO of Costa Hollywood. The project, which has 304 units , business center , five restaurants, department stores , spa , fitness center and resort amenities top notch, with apartments of $ 800,000 , according Besusan , points directly to the Latin American market.

The renewal of this area was eventually forgotten by the housing market involves a revival of the economy in the sector, reviving the area with jobs and a booming trade . Currently , Costa Hollywood intends to expand to their apartments and are not just holidays but achieve transform the area into a place of permanent residence .

But these are people with resources , and resources , following the purchase of the home is the acquisition of the yacht. "Our customers in Brazil, Mexico and Venezuela , for example , buy condominiums and then a yacht. In fact , there are some who do not buy when they visit home and live on their boats , "says Alessandro Diomedi , sales manager Ferretti Group.

Diomedi adds that Latin America is the main market, where there is a culture deeply rooted luxury boats with sophisticated customers , who generally leave their yacht in Miami , where there is a huge industry , having all the amenities in one place.

"Our main plan for 2013 is to continue to attract our potential market of South America to Miami , it is very important and helps us a lot," said Diomedi .

This year , in addition , two awards of the company in Latin America , one in Lima and another in Punta del Este, a company in Puerto Rico will open and the possibility of settling in Chile and Panama were evaluated.

In Brazil, one of its strongest markets, now have a manufacturing plant , because the tax restrictions would force them to pay 90 % in taxes , so they should manufacture in the country. The Ferretti boats are specially designed according to the requirements of each client. " The interesting thing about South America is that people are increasingly buying larger boats and yacht changed every two years ," explains Diomedi . Prices range from $ U $ 500 billion , up $ 50 million, but " there are always new millionaires and billionaires , so always increase sales," he says.

Finally , this new luxury boom have led Latin Americans should not just those wealthy , but also a huge crowd of tourists annually visit South Florida and remittances leaving the city. According to the Convention and Visitors Center of Greater Miami , more than 3 million Latin Americans visited the city in 2011 , reflecting an increase of 7 % from the same period in 2010 .

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

U.S. has a policy of encouragement to the "moderate" economic growth

The U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed ) decided to keep its monetary stimulus program to purchase monthly passes for 85,000 million dollars and low interest rates to the " moderate" growth and " high" rate of unemployment.

Following its two-day meeting , the Federal Open Market Committee of the Fed first announced formally that could raise or lower the rate of bond purchases " change depending on whether the labor market prospects or inflation."

The U.S. central bank said inflation is "somewhat below" the target of 2 % and that the labor market has " shown some improvement ," but described the unemployment rate of 7.6% in March "high " .

"The committee hopes that, with appropriate expansionary policy , economic growth will continue at a moderate pace and the unemployment rate will gradually reduce ," said the statement, in which the Fed was flexible to adapt this policy to the situation economical .

The U.S. central bank has announced that it will keep the benchmark interest rates at exceptionally low levels of between 0% and 0.25% until unemployment drops 6.5% or inflation rises above 2 , 5 % .

The decision came with 11 votes in favor and 1 against , the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Esther George , who said that the high level of monetary expansion has increased the risks of future economic and financial imbalances. "

Housing market recovery

In the U.S. the housing market is recovering again, areas where prices have begun to climb, while mortgage rates are at record lows . Also, the stock market on Wall Street is to pre the financial crisis in September 2008 bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers levels.

Wall Street extended its downtrend in the final stretch of the day and the Dow Jones, its main indicator, closed with a decline of 0.94 %. Despite the positive details in the U.S. , retail sales , industrial production and household spending remains weak and feeds Stealth monetary authorities not to raise too many expectations .

Agreement of a tax plan

In addition , the U.S. economic recovery remains to Congress and President Barack Obama finally agree on a fiscal and long-term budget plan for the country.

In March, the automatic budget cuts were implemented worth 85.000 million this year and $ 1.2 trillion over the next decade , which if not replaced by another agreement could seriously affect several economic sectors.

The White House wants the agreement to replace the cuts with more " sensible" is accompanied by a tax increase to help cure the growth of the debt of the world's largest economy .

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Offer of apartments in Manhattan, at its lowest level

The market for homes in the New York island fell in the second quarter.

" The real estate business is experiencing record lows Manhattan but, surprisingly, is also seeing an increase in the number of sales ," said the firm in its study, which reports every three months.

Between April and June last had on the island, one of the most crowded in the world, a total of 4,795 apartments on the market , 31.3 percent less than in the same three months of 2012 and its lowest level since started preparing the report 12 years ago .

The current offer is far from the 12,336 apartments that came to be available in Manhattan in the first quarter of 2009, at the height of the deepest and longest in the United States since the Great Depression of the 30s crisis.

Despite the shortage of inventory, real estate sales in Manhattan jumped 18.8 percent in the second quarter to 3,144 , which is the most active spring in terms of sales since 2007 , again according to the report.

Therefore , prices rose in the last three months by 4.3 percent year on year , so an apartment in Manhattan costs on average about $ 865,000 . "After years of uncertainty among consumers that culminated in the presidential elections and the fiscal cliff in late 2012 , demand accelerated in 2013 and this slightly pushing up prices," the report concludes .