Buyers From Asia Snap Up Manhattan Apartments | Chappaqua NY Real Estate

Asian buyers are spending billions to scoop up luxury properties across the U.S., including some of New York City’s priciest addresses.

As the Journal reported Friday, 15 apartments going for roughly $1 million each at 515 E. 72nd St. have been purchased by Asian buyers in the past six months. That’s just a small part of the $9 billion buyers from China and Hong Kong spent on U.S. real estate in the 12 months ending in March, according to data released earlier this month by the National Association of Realtors.

Several full-floor apartments at the new One57 high rise in Manhattan — with price tags of about $50 million — have gone into contract with buyers from China. The building’s owners are going out of their way to appeal to an Asian audience:

[T]he building put many of its most luxurious full-floor apartments on the 80th through 88th floors—a clever way to appeal to the Chinese belief that eight is the luckiest number. Apartment 88 is under contract to a Chinese buyer for around $50 million.

The phenomenon of deep-pocketed overseas buyers, while not new in Manhattan, has reached a fever pitch in recent years. As the Journal noted earlier this month, foreign buyers snapped up five of the 12 Manhattan homes that have sold for more than $35 million since 2010.

Brokers say wealthy home buyers in America and abroad are viewing New York luxury properties as a “haven for wealth” during rocky economic times. Read more and see a slideshow of some of the biggest purchases.