US and Britain property developers leave the "Vanity Fair". The world's leading developers are sacrificing height and glitz for better returns. "The age of bling is over," said Ken Shuttleworth, famous British architect (from Norman Foster). "Money now drives everything, so if you can build something for half the price, you will," he said. Construction of several skyscrapers in the City, will be completed, but they may be the last. Commercial Estates Group Ltd. and Hammerson Plc last month said that they will review a plan to build a 63-story building. Instead of it appears quite compact, 32-storey building. "A tall building was proving very expensive, so we went back to the drawing board", said Martin Jepson, Hammerson's managing director for London. Developers in New-York also change their plans. One World Trade Center, which will be the western hemisphere's tallest tower when it opens in 2013, is one of several skyscrapers that may be built by the end of the decade in New-York. Decrease of tendency explains with high costs of skyscrapers. In London, high-rise buildings cost 50 pounds to 150 pounds more per square foot than shorter ones. That means the money needed to construct a skyscraper with 500,000 square feet (46,000 square meters) of space can be 150 million pounds, twice as much as a lower-rise structure with the same space. Such difference is explained by the fact that high-rise construction requires special engineering solutions, including the development of a powerful frame, and often unusual architectural techniques. Tall buildings are also less attractive to investors than shorter ones because tenants can't start moving in until the construction work is over. So it takes a very long time to get the first money from your investment. But large-scale architectural projects are not everywhere losing out. Skyscrapers boom reaches end, but only in certain parts of the world. Now they support the most functional and "green " projects. However, in Asia, which shows a steady increase in GDP, in the next 20 years will be dominated by the idea that the building should be high and attractive. So, the architects will continue to design skyscrapers, but now in China, India or Arab states.

Anya Hairapetan, the daughter of wealthy Moscow-based journalist, publisher and oil tycoon Levon Hairapetian, is unloading a prized piece of her real estate portfolio. After picking up a historic Brooklyn Heights carriage house for $9.8 million last year, Hairapetian is letting it go again for almost the same price. The four-bedroom townhouse at 165 Columbia Heights is back on the market asking $9.9 million, according to The Real Deal. In 2014, the New York Post reported that she bought a West Village townhouse for $9.89 million at 280 West Fourth Street that was once home to artist Charles Webster Hawthorne, mentor to Norman Rockwell. The Brooklyn carriage house is on the market with Compass’ Maggie Sherman, who says in the listing that the property has all new mechanical systems and every structural piece has been replaced. The house features a 3-car garage, expansive open living space, 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, and a beautiful planted Roof Terrace.

The biggest ranch in America that stretches over 510,000 continuous acres - that's 796 square miles, (2060 square kilometers) making it a plot of land bigger than the island of Oahu - has gone on sale for US$ 725 million. Realtors are hoping the Waggoner ranch in north Texas will become the most expensive estate in the world - after slapping the huge price tag on it in the hopes of attracting a Silicon Valley entrepreneur or oil tycoon. Cattle baron Dan Waggoner established the estate in 1849 - and it has operated with its backwards 'D' logo ever since. The estate includes the 2060 square kilometers ranch spread over six North Texas counties, with two main compounds, hundreds of homes, about 20 cowboy camps, hundreds of quarter-horses, thousands of heads of cattle, and 30,000 acres of cultivated land, according to Dallas-based broker Bernie Uechtritz, who is handling the sale along with broker Sam Middleton of Lubbock. Oil was discovered on the property in 1902 and there are now more than a thousand wells spread across the property.