J CHRISTOPHER Flowers, founder of private-equity firm JC Flowers & Co, on Dec 27 bought a US$20 million co-op apartment in New York in a cash deal. The same day, Dwayne Andreas, former head of Archer-Daniels- Midland Co, sold his Manhattan home for US$23.9 million, also in cash.
The deals, reported earlier this week by the New York City Department of Finance, are among the surge in year-end luxury-home transactions made before an expected jump in capital gains taxes on Jan 1.
There were more sales of Manhattan luxury property in the last three months of 2012 than in any other fourth quarter since at least 1989, when New York appraiser Miller Samuel Inc began tracking the data.
Luxury sales, which Miller Samuel defines as the top 10 per cent by price, increased 29 per cent from a year earlier to 260, based on data the company collected from public records through Dec 31.
