The Nahmad family, known for their influence in the art world, has been trading works for decades. The descendants of the Lebanese surname, millionaires Ezra and David Nahmad, have one of the largest collections of modern and contemporary art. Their collection includes pieces by renowned artists such as Picasso, Van Gogh, Monet, and more.
Originally from Beirut, Lebanon, the Nahmad family has faced violence against Jews, leading them to emigrate several times. In the 1960s, they settled in Milan, Italy, where the brothers discovered their passion for art. Ezra and David are known for seeing art as both a passion and a secure financial investment.
Their works have been loaned and exhibited in some of the world‘s largest museums, such as the Louvre, the Center Pompidou, and the Musée d’Orsay. One of their most successful transactions was the purchase of a Picasso oil painting in 1955, which they acquired for $2.6 million and later sold for $30.8 million.
Forbes magazine estimated the combined value of the Nahmad family’s art collection to be between $7 and $8 billion. They have a warehouse near the Geneva airport that houses an estimated 4,500 to 5,000 works of art, including pieces by Monet, Renoir, Matisse, and a collection of 300 works by Picasso worth a billion dollars.
As of 2024, Forbes reported that the Nahmad brothers have a combined fortune of $4.1 billion. David Nahmad leads with a fortune of $2.3 billion, while Ezra boasts $1.8 billion. The Nahmad brothers continue to be prominent figures in the art world, with their vast collection and successful art trading business.
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The Influential Nahmad Family: Art Collectors Extraordinaire
Why you have to be careful who wants to buy now
– 2024-05-07 06:55:26
Property prices fell in 2023. But that doesn’t mean that real estate is affordable. What problems buyers face.
“It won’t get any cheaper”, “The desire to buy is returning”, “The mood for optimism in the real estate market”. Or: “The real estate market has collapsed”, “Purchase prices continue to fall”. Anyone who looks at headlines about the real estate market these days will find contradictions. Will prices continue to fall or not? Depends on who you ask…
Of course, the construction and real estate industry is hoping for a revival in the real estate market. Credit brokers as well. Of course, both do this in their own interest. The “revival” is expected to come this year. But anyone who wants to buy is worried: many have been unable to afford a property in the past year and a half because of high interest rates. And it is questionable whether interest rates will fall quickly enough to cushion the still high real estate prices.
To person
Antje Erhard has been working as a journalist and TV presenter for around 20 years. Her path took her from the news agency dpa-AFX to ZDF, among others. She currently works for the ARD financial editorial team in Frankfurt and reports daily on what is happening in the world of the stock market and business.
Welcome back to 2022
Let’s look at the facts. According to the Federal Statistical Office, real estate prices fell by a national average of 8.4 percent in 2023 – these are the most recent figures. What sounds like a lot is actually not much. Because with the decline we are just back to the price level of 2022. Welcome back! Overall, real estate prices in Germany have almost doubled in the past 20 years.
Big city hui – pampa ugh
And the 8.4 percent price decline is an average value. Prices are already rising again in large cities. Even in fat belts. It is the unrenovated old buildings in the middle of nowhere that are dragging down the average. These are – let’s put it carefully – difficult to sell. Despite government funding, for example with the “Young Buys Old” program.
However, those who warm to this usually move to regions without sufficient infrastructure – from rail connections to medical care and kindergarten places to time-consuming commutes to work. Seems like exchanging one problem for numerous others. And that is: clearly unattractive.
Hurdles for prospective buyers
But let’s say you find a property that has fallen slightly in price in the past few months. Then you still face a number of hurdles:
Point 1: Your cost of living has probably increased significantly, thanks to the high inflation rates of the past few months. Your rent may also have increased – it’s part of inflation. It doesn’t help if inflation is slowing down now. The price level remains high. And this reduces your scope for providing equity for a property. But less equity means: higher loan interest rates. Then they wouldn’t have won anything.
Point 2: Especially when it comes to older properties for sale, questions arise today that were rarely asked in the past. And they revolve around heating and energy. So, how is heating done? Is there thermal insulation? How much does it cost to renovate an old oil or gas heating system? What funding is available – how and by when can you apply? It’s understandable that you can lose track here. How simple were the times when it was simply: “Location, location, location”…
Point 3: The heating is often not the only element that needs to be renovated when buying an old property. The problem: Building materials and craftsmen have recently been in short supply and expensive. All too often, sellers have forgone the renovation and missed the moment when interest rates were still low. Anyone who buys today has to finance the modernization themselves. At higher interest rates. In this sense, some sellers’ asking prices are simply unrealistic. Many almost buyers probably cannot afford the purchase price plus renovation.
Point 4: The credit conditions have actually improved since the end of 2023. According to Interhyp AG, an average of 4.23 percent interest was still due in November for ten years of fixed interest rates. Currently it is 3.7 percent. However, data on the market situation and demand show that this decline is not enough. The relationship between credit costs and real estate prices is still more than unfavorable.
But buyers, sellers, credit portals, brokers, and the construction and real estate industries all agree on one thing: their hopes rest on an interest rate cut by the European Central Bank (ECB) in June. And that is quite realistic because inflation in the euro area is again approaching its target value of two percent.
A reduction in interest rates does not create a real estate boom
However, the interest rate cut that is being discussed is likely to be small. 0.25 percentage points less – that’s a drop in the ocean. In order for interest rates to fall sustainably, the ECB must or wants to be certain that the expected inflation is really under control.
Why you have to be careful who wants to buy now – 2024-05-07 06:55:26
Marc Coucke Sells Dutch Lighthouse for 8 Million Euros, Making it Second Most Expensive Home in the Netherlands
A lighthouse in the Dutch seaside town of Cadzand was sold by Marc Coucke for at least 8 million euros. That’s telling The hour. This makes it one of the second most expensive homes ever sold in the Netherlands.
It was the Dutch newspaper Regional Zeeland Courant (PZC) announced on Sunday the news that a penthouse was sold in the Zeeland-Flemish seaside town of Cadzand – which was also popular with Belgium – with an asking price of 8 million euros. It’s certainly not cheap to live there, but this sale really takes the cake.
“Very special,” Marilein Harpe of the real estate agency Verhage & Lemahieu calls the sale in PZC. “I think this is the most expensive holiday home ever sold in the Netherlands. I can’t think of anything where you can’t live permanently and that’s more expensive.”
Cup
According to sources from The hour the lighthouse – with 281 square meters of living space, four bedrooms and a very large terrace with a view of the sea – was sold by entrepreneur Marc Coucke. It is part of De Blanke Top – The Residence, near the four-star hotel De Blanke Top, which was built ten years ago by the Ostend real estate developer Bart Versluys and is known as one of the real estate projects most famous in the country. Dutch resort.
When the building was built, Coucke immediately bought two head houses. He had already sold one of those two years ago for 5 to 6 million euros, he said The hour, and now the other one is also sold. The apartments in the building have sold quickly in recent years, but several are already for sale on the estate agency’s website. This applies to apartments between 2.65 and 4.35 million euros.
2024-05-06 17:16:26
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