Fine Art vs Real Estate

WNYC has an interesting post comparing New York City real estate investments to fine art purchases. The article looks at the top 10 art purchases against the top ten residential real estate sales.  It then has a short interview with a real estate agent and an art dealer. Of course the real estate agent says that real estate is the better investment, while the art dealer says it is art.

Here is a chart of the 2011 top ten residential sales in NYC and the top ten art sales.

WNYC reports

It's long been axiomatic that a slice of pizza is about the same price as a single ride on the subway. But here's a new economic parallel for New York City: the most expensive apartments changing hands in  the city last year fetched about as much money as masterworks by Andy Warhol and Gustav Klimt.

For example, Developer William Zeckendorf paid $27 million for a two-bedroom apartment at 740 Park Avenue last November (the No. 8 most expensive home purchase of the year in New York), almost the same price as was reportedly paid by the Mugrabi family for a 1986 Andy Warhol self-portrait a few months earlier (the No. 7 price paid at an art auction.)

Steven Giachetti, an assistant vice president in the EDC's research department, whose recent report highlights the parallels between the two high-end industries, said he wanted to illustrate the role art auction houses play in the the city’s economy.

He was motivated, in part, by increased reports of record-high winning bids at auction houses.

"I realized that these headline-grabbing figures were quite the norm actually," Giachetti said, adding that the art market rebound really hit him at an auction of works by the artist Clyfford Still, which he attended last fall.

(A Still painting -- "1949-A-No. 1" -- sold for nearly $62 million at Sotheby's in November).

Nevertheless, Giachetti said he was surprised a square of canvas and oil paint can fetch as much money as an apartment overlooking Central Park.

Source: WNYC, click HERE to read