Super Rich Drive Residences to New Heights

$60,000 a month for an apartment? That's the price some of the world's most expensive residences are expecting. Offering truly unique views (at some unique prices, too), developers are catering to a growing demand for skyscraper residences. Candace Jackson, of The Wall Street Journal, reports: "[c]hanging the skyline in New York, London and Dallas, the tallest new residences will stretch over 90 stories, with at least one penthouse asking over $100 million."

"In 2012, it's projected that 41 of the world's tallest 100 buildings will be office spaces; in 2000, it was 85," finds Jackson. "This time, with financing for new projects still tight, many developers are focusing strictly on the high end, where demand is strongest and profit margins are biggest."

Buyers of the trendy and trophy properties tend to be wealthy foreigners. "For foreign buyers, buying into a newly constructed building in New York is easier than getting approval from cooperative or condominium boards, says Edward Mermelstein, a Manhattan-based lawyer who advises wealthy Russian and Eastern European clients purchasing real estate in the U.S," quotes Jackson. "'There's another level of anonymity,' he says."