How Rich Are New York's Real Estate Developers?

Pretty gosh darned rich, according to Forbes magazine.

Twelve of New York’s celebrated real estate titans bought, sold and leveraged their way onto or up Forbes' 2008 list of the 400 wealthiest Americans. While the vast sums of wealth are truly staggering, New York’s wealthy real estate developers still lag far behind the big players on Wall Street; in fact, no real estate developer was rich enough to crack America’s top 50–-Paul Milstein and family were closest at No. 68.

The list: wealth (in billions) and ranking

• Paul Milstein and family: $5 (68)
• Richard LeFrak and family: $4.5 (78)
• Stephen Ross: $4.5 (78)
• Leonard Stern: $3.7 (97)
• Donald Trump: $3 (134)
• Mort Zuckerman: $2.8 (147)
• John Catsimatidis: $2.1 (215)
• Sheldon Solow: $2 (227)
• Jerry Speyer: $2 (227)
• Tamir Sapir: $1.9 (246)
• Leon Charney: $1.5 (321)
• Steve Roth: $1.3 (377)

The Forbes 400 capped a rather unpleasant year for Harry Macklowe. Last year, Mr. Macklowe was the 239th wealthiest American, with an estimated fortune of $2 billion and an impressive portfolio of some of New York's finest real estate (the GM Building!). This year: unranked.