Foreigners

UrbanDigs held a real estate panel at the Yale Clab (snazzy!), and the discussion briefly turned to foreign buyers. From the transcript (MC is Melissa Cohn of Manhattan Mortgage Company, JM is Jonathan Miller, obvs): "MC - Foreign purchases of NYC properties are down 50% year-to-date. A number of foreigners bought downtown and now need to sell as a result of the world financial crisis. Banks are pulling back from lending to foreigners. There used to be ten that were active, that number is down to four. JM - A third of buyers in new developments were foreigners, which is double the historical numbers, but new developments are only 20% of sales in the city so the overall impact of foreign buyers has been greatly exaggerated." Greatly exaggerated?! WWMD? [UrbanDigs]