Morning Briefing: New York world’s priciest city

New York world’s priciest city… The Jeffersons co-creator lists $55 million Californian estate… Greater Hartford realtors report growth in home sales…

New York world’s priciest city
New York City is the most expensive city in the world according to a new study by a Swiss-based bank. UBS looked at how much it costs to live in various cities around the globe. Using a basket of 122 typical goods and rental costs the study put New York at the top of the list with other cities ranked in relation to it; Chicago ranks 7th at 76.7 per cent of the cost of living in New York with Miami at 67.7 per cent. LA is at 67.4 per cent. 

One of the less conventional measures that the lender used was ranking cities in terms of how many minutes an average worker from 15 measured professions would have to work to afford a Big Mac. In New York, Miami, Chicago and Los Angeles it’s 11 minutes,  workers in Hong Kong have paid for their burger in 9 minutes while those in Nairobi will savour every mouthful of their meal having worked for almost three hours to afford it.
 
The Jeffersons co-creator lists $55 million Californian estate
Legendary TV producer Norman Lear has put his estate in Brentwood, CA up for sale at $55 million. The LA Times reports that the producer of hit TV shows such as All in the Family and Good Times has spent 27 years living on the near 10-acre estate and has entertained many famous names from Hollywood and politics there. The main home has 7 bedrooms, 8 bathrooms and 4 powder rooms. The estate also has two guest houses, offices, swimming pool and tennis court. There’s also plenty of room for guests’ cars with a 35-vehicle garage. The TV executive bought the home in 1988 for $6.5 million. Fred Bernstein of Westside Estate Agency has the listing.
 
Greater Hartford realtors report growth in home sales
The Greater Hartford Association of Realtors reports that closed sales of single-family homes in greater Hartford increased by 12.91 per cent in August compared to a year earlier, to 1108 homes.  Pending sales rose 15.66 per cent and the median sale price decreased 2.22 per cent (from $225,000 to $220,000). New listings increased 5.34 per cent and inventory decreased 0.55 per cent. The average number of days on market decreased 1.59 per cent (from 63 to 62 days), during this same timeframe. Condo sales were up by 22.86 per cent to 258 units with median sale price up 5.73 per cent (from $146,125 to $154,500) and the average days a condo spent on the market up 4.41 per cent (from 68 to 71 days).