January 5, 2019

Trump isn't even good for his own businesses

Independent, UK -An AP analysis of sales data from brokerage CityRealty shows prices per square foot have fallen in nine of the 11 Trump-branded buildings in Manhattan in the first 10 months this year after dropping last year, too.

Since Mr Trump has taken office, prices have fallen nine per cent on average and are now down to levels not seen in five years. In that time, Manhattan condos overall have risen 29 per cent.

CityRealty consultant Zach Gutierrez says Trump buildings are suffering partly because they look dated next to all the new luxury buildings that have gone up in recent years. But he adds that it does not help that some apartment hunters won’t even consider a Trump building now.

Ivanka Trump’s business has been hit by the political backlash, too. The president’s daughter shut down her company making dresses, shoes, handbags and other accessories in July amid boycotts against her brand and after retailers such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Nordstrom decided to drop her line, the latter specifically citing weak sales.

Eric Trump has been similarly positive about his father’s 17 golf resorts around the world, claiming earlier this year that the clubs are doing “spectacularly.”

Yet the few public numbers available suggest otherwise. Financial reports released by the British and Irish governments in October show two Scottish resorts and one in Ireland lost millions last year, the fourth year of losses in a row.

Revenue at his public course in the Bronx, New York fell nine per cent in the first six months of this year, on top of a seven per cent drop last year. Revenue from his Doral golf resort in Miami, which generates the bulk of the Trump empire’s golf revenue, is estimated by Forbes magazine to have plunged 26 per cent last year.

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