Hong Kong’s Luxury Living Draws Mainland Chinese

Mainland Chinese once fled to the slums of Hong Kong’s Kowloon to escape poverty, war and communism but many mainlanders in the district these days are seeking swimming pools and harbour views. (AFP)

How Real Is the Rally in Real Estate Bonds?

Companies are jumping back into mortgage securities, but they may regret their moves. (Business Week)

Luxury Real Estate Vultures

When an ex-managing director of hedge fund Fortress teams up with Sotheby’s in a real estate venture, you know something funny is going on in the luxury residential market.  (Fortune)

Faulty Towers

No one was celebrating exactly, but prospects for real-estate markets brightened last spring and summer. Condos in Miami? “Selling like hotcakes,” said Rodrigo Niño, president of the investment group Prodigy Network. (WSJ Magazine)

25 Most Expensive Beach Houses in America

The real estate recession in the USA is upon us. Property values are likely to get a lot worse before they get better, as we see the biggest housing crisis for 50 years. Foreclosures are mounting and debt is a huge burden but that doesn’t mean houses on the most desirable U.S. beaches aren’t still asking boom-style prices. (The Wondrous)

What 1 Million Euros Buys In Homes Worldwide

A Barcelona penthouse and a New Zealand vineyard are among these ultra-luxury properties now priced near the million-euro mark.

When a sumptuous two-bedroom apartment on St. Petersburg, Russia’s Square of Arts first went on sale in October 2008, it was listed at 1.8 million euros (2.6 million U.S. dollars). At the start of August 2009, the price tag was cut to 1 million euros ($1.4 million)–and the property is remains replete with ornate balustrades, chandeliers and 24-hour security. (Forbes)

LuxuryLab Daily Digest | Swankiest Neighborhoods in America, “The September Issue,” Social Good Conference, Fifth Avenue to Tokyo

The Swankiest Neighborhoods In America (Halogen Life)
What’s the most expensive neighborhood in the United States? Here’s a hint. It may be one of the most entertaining, as many of the most prominent hip-hop stars live there. Welcome to Alpine, New Jersey, home of Sean “Diddy” Combs and some of the ritziest pads imaginable. It’s 20 miles from Manhattan, and has few commercial or industry zones of note — but it’s got a collection of sprawling mansions with a median asking price of $4.14 million. Stevie Wonder and Chris Rock also call it home, sweet home. The rest of the top 10 zip codes are in New Jersey, New York or California.

Art, Commerce, Anna Wintour, and “The September Issue” (Salon)
When filmmaker R.J. Cutler first met Grace Coddington, the striking, red-haired former London hippie who is now the creative director of Vogue magazine, Coddington told Cutler to go away. But as a leading practitioner of the documentary technique known as cinéma-vérité, which involves direct observation and no narration, and strives to keep the filmmaker behind the camera, Cutler didn’t go away. He just hung around and hung around — he had permission from Vogue’s legendary editor, Anna Wintour, to document the process of creating the magazine’s September 2007 issue, a fashion-industry bible — and finally Coddington got used to him. If anything, she’s the central figure in Cutler’s remarkable film “The September Issue” or at least a central countervailing force to the inscrutable, seemingly capricious and notoriously hard-to-please Wintour.

Social Good Conference (Mashable)
Mashable is hosting our first ever Social Good Conference, a one-day educational event celebrating the finale of the Summer of Social Good charitable campaign. The event is being held at the prestigious 92nd Street Y in New York City, but you don’t have to be in New York to watch to participate! Below we’ve embedded a live stream of the event so you can view presentations from well known and respected organizations and professionals as well as take part in discussions via chat.

Fifth Avenue to Tokyo (New York Times)
“There’s a certain demand that’s gone with the asset destruction and the job destruction,” a New York store executive told me the other day. That’s the reality these days. Try as retailers might to entice customers into stores—with spiffy renovations at Saks and Bloomingdale’s, some great-looking fall merchandise—there just isn’t enough demand.

The Swankiest Neighborhoods In America

What’s the most expensive neighborhood in the United States? Here’s a hint. It may be one of the most entertaining, as many of the most prominent hip-hop stars live there. Welcome to Alpine, New Jersey, home of Sean “Diddy” Combs and some of the ritziest pads imaginable. It’s 20 miles from Manhattan, and has few commercial or industry zones of note — but it’s got a collection of sprawling mansions with a median asking price of $4.14 million. Stevie Wonder and Chris Rock also call it home, sweet home. The rest of the top 10 zip codes are in New Jersey, New York or California. (Halogen Life)