Living Large, Condo-Style

Supersized condominiums, or McCondos, are popping up in several cities.
By: Rich Motoko: REALTOR® Magazine Online
Affluent buyers now have access to 20,000-square-foot penthouses in Miami, 16,000-square-foot apartments in Las Vegas, and 10,000-square-foot units in Manhattan.

Experts say McCondos are just another status symbol. Setha Low, environmental psychology professor at City University of New York Graduate Center, compares these buyers to those who flock to gated communities. Low says that these buyers "want to be around other people like themselves."

Trump Group President Michael Goldstein adds that some buyers prefer condos for security, especially if they have large art collections and do not wish to hire private guards. He notes that buyers will spend hundreds of thousands a year in property taxes and tens of thousands per month in maintenance fees.

Professor Robert Fishman of the University of Michigan's Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning describes the trend as "elephantiasis," which he defines as "the disease or syndrome of an individual or species that, just before the crash, there's this huge expansion in size."