Introduction

New York City is the greatest city in the world and Manhattan is the heart and soul of New York City.  New York Residence is one of the leading real estate companies in New York and they specialize in buying new construction in Manhattan. For a private investor there is no better way to make money than buying New Construction. It is quite conceivable for an investor to make profits as high as 50%, 100%, or even more on the money invested in a relatively short period of time. In addition, Manhattan real estate has traditionally been one of the safest investments for your money in the world and new construction, specifically, can give you a high return on your money without much risk or work.  What’s more, you can leverage your money for a greater return with less outlay than other investments.


Investing in new construction condominiums in Manhattan is the best possible real estate investment you can make and that working with our specialized, unique firm is the best possible way to make that investment!  After all, New York Residence is the leader in overseas real estate investment sales.



Overview of New York Real Estate

New York has a very high rate of appreciation.  Historically, the average appreciation in Manhattan is about 14% per year.  This average is higher than the majority of other real estate market in the world.  Some of the factors for this extraordinarily high rate of return are the scarcity of land in Manhattan, the strict zoning laws preventing uncontrolled growth of apartment buildings, the rapidly growing population of New York City compared to the availability of housing, and the fact that New York City is the world center for many industries such as finance, fashion, arts, advertising, publishing and theater.  What’s more, not only do these factors contribute to a higher rate of return, they also help Manhattan avoid any dips and declines that often plague the rest of the country.  Manhattan’s housing market is extremely stable and has had few major declines.  The last major decline came in the late 1980’s and was caused more by tax code changes than anything else.  The recession of the early 1990’s and terrorist attacks of 2001 did little to effect Manhattan real estate prices.  In fact, in 2002, the number of apartments sold hit a now six year high of over 9,500.  In 2005, 7,780 apartments were sold in Manhattan and in the first nine months of 2006, 6,052 apartments had been sold.  However, the median and average sales prices have risen every year in this time period.  

All of these factors have led to Manhattan real estate’s exceptional rate of return over the past 10 years, over 234.7%!

While great investments can be found in areas such as Brooklyn and Queens, prices tend to be more stable in the heart of New York City, Manhattan Island.

The value of real estate is determined by many factors – and many of the factors relevant to excellent appreciation apply to Manhattan.  The following are three of the primary factors:

1.)    Affordability

For example, people in New York can actually afford the expensive apartments – they earn about twice the national average. And they spend less of their income for housing than citizens of many other major cities around the world. If you lived in Tokyo, Oslo or London you would spend more of your income on housing than in New York, which is a clear indication that further growth is possible.

2.)    Scarcity

Manhattan is an island, so most new buildings can only be built if they replace existing structures.
Interestingly enough, most new buildings have fewer apartments than the structures they replace, simply because a new building typically features many amenities previously unheard of, such as residents’ lounges, fitness centers, business centers, etc. Also, people are accustomed to larger spaces these days. While it was perfectly acceptable to live in a 250 sq ft (23 sq meter) apartment at the turn of the century, not many people would choose such a space today.

    
When you compare the average American home in the 1950s with the average American home of today, you find that each person had an average of 289.1 sq ft (26.8 sq meters) in 1950 and 896.2 sq ft (83.2 sq meters) in 2005. While each household had 3.4 persons in 1950, now it is only 2.6. And Americans have seen a significant rise in average income over this period: The average home costs now 251 percent of the annual income, versus 229 percent in 1950. Thanks to better financing options, a year’s salary buys more apartment than it used to.

Furthermore, New York has a very strict building code based on “air rights.” Each parcel comes with a specific “allowance” that determines how high developers may build there. This ensures that enough light and air reach the street level and also limits building activity.

For investment purposes you should only buy a condominium apartment, the form of ownership that gives you full ownership of your specific apartment and a percentage of the common areas plus the land on which the building stands. Only a little over 3 percent of all apartments in New York are such condominium apartments. Even with all the building activity in recent years, this number will not go much above 5 percent in the next years, so a condominium apartment will remain a scarce commodity in Manhattan.

Quality property is even harder to find: a dark apartment overlooking the garbage dump does not become a desirable investment property only because it is a condominium! Since only a fraction of the apartments in a building are excellent ones, a good condominium apartment at a reasonable price is truly a rare find.

3.)    Infrastructure

Manhattan has one of the densest infrastructures in the world, one that is hard to replicate quickly in any other city. For example, the excellent subway system: you do not need a car to live in New York, so you have more money to spend. New York has one of the best wireless infrastructures in the world, one of the largest cable networks in any city on Earth and a richness and diversity of experiences that is hard to match. If you want to see a Broadway show, an opera or a museum, you will see something that ranks highly among the world’s best. As for restaurants, New York features many of the world’s best restaurants, or at least the second best. Because so many nationalities live close together, the city offers residents a truly international lifestyle, which is embraced and loved by New Yorkers.




New York is also one of the few cities in the world where the truly rich choose to live. They do so for many reasons, but it is interesting to note that cities attracting rich residents seem to do better when it comes to property appreciation.

Manhattan alone has 62,773 millionaire households, which is defined as a household with a net worth, excluding primary residence, of $1 million or more. And more than 10 percent of America’s billionaires live here too.  It is where the wealthy want to be and has a large second home market.

In any case, the unique infrastructure of New York is one of the main reasons why property values are maintained better than in most other areas of the United States.

Another factor is that New York’s population is still increasing. Every year, 50,000 to 80,000 people move to New York. Of course, many of these people rent, but nevertheless, they still need a place to live.

Already, New York is the largest city in the United States and one of the largest in the world – over 8.5 million people live here. New York has the highest population density of any city in the US.

As an apartment owner, you can take advantage of rising rents. In the last year alone, rents went up 9.8 percent on average and these days, it is hard to find a good apartment: average vacancy rate is below 1 percent, the lowest in years.




New York Residence is a market leader in new construction and investment properties in New York City.  Many major developers in Manhattan seek their advice and services in marketing and publicizing many of their projects.  They do exhaustive research in finding the best investment opportunities for their clients and would never recommend a project they wouldn’t buy themselves.  In fact, most of their agents are active investors in Manhattan as well.

New York Residence releases periodic investment reports on new developments and will research specific apartments on their clients’ behalf.  They will even take pictures, obtain floorplans and detail individual apartment features if you are not in the New York vicinity.  Many of their clients purchase property sight unseen and are unfamiliar with the unique inner workings of the New York real estate market. 

Once you’ve decided which apartment you’d like to invest in, New York Residence will be there to help you through every step of the purchasing process, from securing financing through helping you find a lawyer to represent you at the closing.

New construction is easy to finance. If the property is intended as your first or second home, you can finance 90 percent of your purchase, in some cases even 95 percent or 100 percent.

For international buyers, financing within New York is readily available without much paperwork, no income verification and no need for supporting documentation, based on a down payment of at least 25 percent.  Such programs are being offered by major lenders such as large international banks.

In addition, in order to conduct a real estate transaction in New York, you need to be represented by a local real estate lawyer. Real estate law differs greatly between the states and most developers will not send out a contact unless they are given a lawyer’s address within New York.  New York Residence has relationships with a variety of different local real estate attorneys who speak many different languages.