Here’s How Much the Trump Brand Adds to the Value of a Condo

Condos in Trump-Branded Buildings Appreciate by a Rate of 8.2% Each Year;
The Average for All Other Manhattan Condos is 7.5%

With much debate going on about the value of the Trump brand, we decided to investigate how condos in Trump-branded buildings (whether owned, developed or just branded) perform compared to all other Manhattan condos. And while many would be right to assume that they perform better than the Manhattan average, we wanted to see exactly what “better” means in this case, so we turned to analyzing the yearly growth.

And here’s how we ran this analysis: we looked at resales in Trump-branded Manhattan condo buildings and stacked them up against resales of all other Manhattan condos.  We calculated the average yearly appreciation rate based on the price difference recorded on each resale.

The result? Owners in Trump buildings see their properties appreciate by a rate of 8.2% each year, while owning a Manhattan condo that doesn’t come with the Trump brand will give you a 7.5% yearly increase – which translates into a 9% difference in Trump’s favor. We’ll leave it to you to judge how significant this advantage is.

Trump Brand Loses Battle with Other Iconic Manhattan Buildings

If you are now wondering how each Trump-branded building performed individually, we’ve got the answer for you. The Trump buildings we analyzed are all appreciating, though at different rates, so it appears that if the brand has any influence, it is by no means uniform.

Owners at the Trump Tower and at the Trump International Hotel & Tower are the ones reaping the most benefits, with a yearly appreciation rate of 13%, while at the other end of the spectrum, Trump Place owners see a rate of only 5%.

And we haven’t just looked at how the Trump brand influences the appreciation rate in comparison to all other Manhattan condos. We’ve also looked at the performance of Trump buildings against three of the most iconic Manhattan buildings to see the impact of the Trump brand when compared to other condos from its category.

Condos at Trump International Hotel & Tower, for example, are appreciating at a 13% yearly rate but the owners here will look with envy at their neighbors in 15 Central Park West where property values gain 24% each year.

Furthermore, One Beacon Court and the Time Warner building both outperform even the most successful among Trump buildings, the Trump Tower.

Selling at a Loss? Less Likely If You Own in a Trump Building

Since not all condo resales register a price increase compared to the previous amount paid, one other metric that could help gauge how much the Trump brand pays off would be looking at how many units sold at a loss. From this point of view, units in the Trump buildings we analyzed perform better than all other condo units combined, with 11% of units selling at a lower price than they were purchased. The same stat for Manhattan condos overall is 14%.

Resale Trends in Trump Buildings

When looking at how the average increase in resale price is influenced by the time a property is owned, we noticed that units in Trump buildings are doing a lot better than the rest of Manhattan condos when resold in the 3-7 year time frame. For those looking to immediately cash in on their investment in a Trump condo, hoping that the brand would bring quick gains, the numbers show that the increase in resale price after 1 year of ownership is the same as for all other condo buildings.

Methodology

The list of Trump branded properties was based on all NYC-located condo buildings listed on the Trump Organization’s website. Resale value was based on the sale price difference between two consecutive transactions for the same unit. We excluded from our study multi-unit transactions.

The yearly appreciation rate was calculated using a compound appreciation rate. We excluded resales where less than 12 months have passed between two transactions.