As the number of overseas purchasers fell, buyers from outside the five boroughs made up roughly 25% of all New York City house purchases in the first half of the year, according to a new analysis of real estate trends reported by Gothamist.
More than 23% of single- and two-family houses, condominiums, and cooperatives were bought by individuals with addresses from other states or counties between January and July, according to a survey by the research firm PropertyShark. It’s a moderate increase from around 19% over the same six-month period ten years ago.
According to the research, the majority of out-of-state house buyers in New York were residents of New Jersey, California, and Florida.
Conversely, data shows that in the first half of the year, foreign purchasers accounted for just 0.3% of all house sales – a decrease from over 1% in 2014. Foreign investors have long been drawn to New York City, particularly when it comes to luxury real estate and multifamily structures. But according to Eliza Theiss, senior writer at PropertyShark, the rate at which foreign nationals are buying homes is dropping amid global unrest and the pandemic’s lasting effects on the real estate market.
“Their spot has been taken over by investors [and] home buyers from other states,” said Theiss, who argued that trade issues with China might be deterring Chinese citizens from purchasing real estate in New York City, while Russia’s invasion of Ukraine resulted in less purchases by the country’s elite.
In May, the median asking price in the entire city was $1.12 million, according on data from the real estate website StreetEasy.
According to a July study from the National Association of Realtors, 54,300 properties in the US were bought by foreign purchasers between April 2023 and March 2024, accounting for around 1.3% of the 4 million residences sold in the US during that time. The quantity of properties acquired by foreign nationals or newly arrived immigrants decreased from around 107,000 properties three years prior and from approximately 232,600 properties ten years prior.
Brokers are increasingly dealing with rich parents who are paying cash for condominiums and starter houses that they then give to or rent out to their children, according to real estate expert Jordan Barowitz.
“Interest rates are still high, sale prices have not come down and rents are still high,” Barowitz said. “If you’re a prosperous Midwesterner with a kid moving to New York City, the economics of that deal are pretty smart.”
