纽约房产商热烈欢迎老外来买房

In the last several months, at least three brokerage firms have made announcements touting their international reach — so, it must be a trend.

过去几个月里，至少已经有三家房地产经纪公司高调宣布了它们的国际化经营路线——因此，这肯定是个潮流。

First, the German brokerage Engel & Völkers announced it was opening an office in New York City; then the New York stalwart Douglas Elliman Real Estate codified a longstanding relationship with the brokerage firm Knight Frank of London, creating Douglas Elliman Fine Homes/Knight Frank Residential. And finally, a few weeks ago, Town Residential said it was opening an outpost in London and expanding relationships in places as far-flung as Brazil, Nigeria and Hong Kong.

一开始，德国经纪公司Engel & Völkers宣布，它将在纽约市开设办事处；接着，纽约大鳄道格拉斯·艾丽曼房地产公司(Douglas Elliman Real Estate)和伦敦的经纪公司莱坊国际(Knight Frank)就其长期合作关系达成协议，创立了道格拉斯·艾丽曼美居/莱坊住宅(Douglas Elliman Fine Homes/Knight Frank Residential)。最后，几星期前，Town Residential也宣布将在伦敦设立办事处，同时在巴、尼日利亚、香港等遥远地区拓展合作关系。

Why so much emphasis in New York on the global market? Real estate is, after all, very local. And New Yorkers have always prided themselves on uniqueness, with quirky co-op buildings, lengthy board applications and deep neighborhood identities.

为什么纽约在全球市场当中如此受重视呢？毕竟，房地产业的地域性是很强的；况且纽约人素来以自己的独特而自豪，他们的共管公寓楼外形古怪，管委会审批申请的流程冗长，社区身份的观念也根深蒂固。

But over the last decade, and especially in the years since the recession, New York City real estate has undergone a significant shift. Hundreds of high-end condominiums have been built, and many of the builders no longer have, as the local cable channel NY1 News might put it, “real New Yorkers” in mind. Instead, it is the overseas buyer they are considering when they tout their tower’s expansive views of Central Park or hotel-style concierge services.

不过近几十年来，尤其是在经济衰退后的这些年里，纽约市的房地产业经历了重大变迁。成百上千的高端共管公寓拔地而起，很多建筑商已不再考虑当地买家，也就是当地有线电视频道NY1新闻所说的那些“真正的纽约人”了；相反，当他们标榜其楼盘的住户能够坐拥中央公园的广阔景观，和酒店式的门房服务时，他们考虑的是海外买家。

And it seems to have worked. With our ever-expanding number of foreigner-friendly buildings, New York is taking its place as a hot spot for global wealth. “All my friends already bought old townhouses in London,” said Emir Bahadir, a founder of RLTY NYC in Manhattan and a fifth-generation member of a Turkish real estate family. “They want to come to New York, where you can get developments with pools inside the apartments and beautiful design — things London can’t offer,” said Mr. Bahadir, who ought to know, having grown up in London and at a Swiss boarding school.

而这招似乎已经奏效了。随着“亲外”楼盘的数量达到前所未有的水平，纽约正日益成为吸引全球财富的一大热点。“我所有朋友都在伦敦买过年代久远的联排别墅，”埃米尔·巴哈迪(Emir Bahadir)说，他是曼哈顿房企RLTY NYC的创始人，也是土耳其一个地产世家的第五代成员，“他们想来纽约，因为在纽约的开发项目，你可以买到设计美观且带游泳池的公寓——这些东西都是伦敦给不了的。”巴哈迪说。他从小在伦敦长大，在瑞士读过寄宿学校，因此了解情况。

“For the first time, you have a full class of luxury condominiums in New York, and that product type caters to the non-New York buyer,” said Stuart N. Siegel, the president of Engel & Völkers New York Real Estate. “In the past, you might have had the Olympic Tower, or Trump Tower, but those were first-generation buildings and they were seen as a class below the classic townhouse or co-op in New York. That is no longer the case.”

“纽约的奢华共管公寓首度形成了气候，而这种产品类型面向的是外地的买家，”Engel & Völkers地产公司纽约办事处的总裁斯图尔特·N·西格尔(Stuart N. Siegel)说，“过去，你可能会有奥林匹克大厦(Olympic Tower)或者川普大楼(Trump Tower)，但那些是第一代楼盘，在人们眼里它们不如经典的联排别墅或合作公寓。而现在，情况不一样了。”

James C. Cox Jr., a broker at Urban Compass who lived for three years in Kazakhstan, has many buyer clients from that country, once part of the Soviet bloc. “We had an early look at the Woolworth building, because I have clients interested in buying there,” he said. “There is a lot of dark, heavy wood and big panels of marble. It might not be appealing to local buyers since it is not as fresh and modern-looking, but for sure it is the style of my clients from the former Soviet Union.”

Urban Compass的经纪人小詹姆斯·C·考克斯(James C. Cox Jr.)曾在哈萨克斯坦生活了三年，有很多买家客户来自这个原为苏联集团成员国之一的国度。“我们很早就关注了伍尔沃斯大厦(Woolworth)，因为我有几个客户有兴趣在那里买房，”他说，“那个楼盘采用了很多深色、厚重的木材，和大块的大理石板。当地买家可能会不喜欢，因为它看起来并不新鲜，也没有现代感；但是可以肯定，我的前苏联客户很钟意这种风格。”

Kenneth S. Horn, the president of Alchemy Properties, the developer that is reinventing the Woolworth tower into condominiums, said the interiors were not created to cater to any specific clientele. “We have designed the Woolworth Tower Residences to appeal to a classical sense of design,” he said. “We wanted to create units that had great architectural significance and were true to the heritage of the building.”

炼金地产(Alchemy Properties)是负责将伍尔沃斯大厦改建成共管公寓楼的开发商。其总裁肯尼思·S·霍恩(Horn)说，其室内设计风格并没有刻意讨好某个特定的客户群体。“我们将伍尔沃斯大厦住宅(Woolworth Tower Residences)设计得比较吸引那些喜欢经典设计的人群，”他说，“我们想建造既有建筑重要性，又忠于原物风格的单元。”

It is no secret, though, that New York developers are increasingly building with a foreign clientele in mind. And these buyers have a multitude of choices. There are the tall Midtown spires offering enormous cityscape views like One57 and 432 Park Avenue, or buildings with known brands and hotel services like the 30 Park Place Four Seasons Residences in Lower Manhattan, or highly stylized projects like the Zaha Hadid-designed condominium adjacent to the High Line park.

不过，纽约开发商的项目正日益迎合外国客户的需求，已经不是什么秘密了。这些买家的选择范围很广，既有能够观赏辽阔城市景观的高耸中城区尖塔，比如One57、公园大道(Park Avenue)432号；也有附带酒店服务的知名品牌，比如曼哈顿下城的公园广场(Park Place)30号四季公寓(Four Seasons Residences)；还有风格独特的项目，比如由扎哈·哈迪德(Zaha Hadid)设计、毗邻高线公园(High Line park)的那些共管公寓。

“A Brazilian who has a health insurance business recently bought a $60 million apartment at One57, and we have sold a few units at the Trump SoHo just over the phone,” said Cristiano Piquet, the founder of Piquet Realty, who represents many Brazilian buyers. “Demand from Brazil is increasing, and we are going to see a big wave of buyers coming right after the elections in a few weeks,” he said. “They are uncertain of the future there, and want to park their money in a more stable economy like the U.S.”

“有个开健康保险公司的巴西人，最近在One57买了一套价值6000万美元（约合人民币3.7亿元）的公寓。而且我们通过电话就卖出了苏豪川普大厦(Trump SoHo)的一些单元，”皮奎特地产(Piquet Realty)的创始人克里斯蒂亚诺·皮奎特(Cristiano Piquet)说，他有很多巴西客户，“巴西市场的需求越来越旺盛，几星期后，选举一结束，我们紧接着就会迎来一大波买家，”他说，“他们对那边的未来感到不确定，所以想把钱投到美国这类更加稳定的经济体中来。”

Global instability is a key driver of demand here, and while there has been an increase in supply to satisfy demand, “we are still at an absorption rate of almost half of what is considered normal in New York City,” said Wendy Maitland, the president of sales at Town Residential. “Yes, we have more inventory, and yes, there will be certain segments of the product that won’t move as quickly as sellers hope, but we are still at historic lows in terms of existing inventory and inventory coming on line.”

当地的房产需求，主要是由全球不稳定因素拉动的。房源的供给量已有所增涨，以满足需求，而“吸纳率依然只接近纽约市正常水平的一半。”Town Residential的销售负责人温蒂·梅特兰(Wendy Maitland)说，“诚然，我们的存量房更多了，而且，某些类别的产品不会像卖家所希望的那样很快转手；但是我们现有的存量房和即将上市的存量房，依然处在历史较低水平。”

Armed with this view, Town is making an effort to push its presence overseas. “We have consciously and deliberately set about forging direct and vetted relationships with brokers in the luxury market in cities all over the globe,” Ms. Maitland said.

出于这样的考虑，Town Residential正致力于海外扩张。“我们已经开始有意识地与全球各地奢华住宅市场的经纪人建立直接而长远的联系。”梅特兰说。

While brokerages are expanding their footprint overseas to lure foreign buyers to Manhattan and vice versa, there are, of course, some stumbling blocks. One is New York taxes. “Taxes are a major problem,” Mr. Cox of Urban Compass said. “We help buyers structure limited liability companies to avoid, or minimize, some taxes, but it is often a challenge to explain all the different taxes they are charged.”

虽然经纪公司正在纷纷进军海外，吸引外国买家前往曼哈顿（反之亦然），但是他们也不可避免地会遇到一些绊脚石。其中之一，便是纽约的房产税费。“税费是一大问题，”Urban Compass的考克斯说，“我们帮助买家组建有限责任公司来避税、或者尽量减少某些税费。但是，要想把他们负担的所有税费一一解释清楚，往往是个很大的挑战。”

These charges include transfer taxes, the mortgage recording tax and the mansion tax. “When I have buyers from outside New York — not just overseas buyers but Americans who live in other states — they are overwhelmed by the taxes they see crossing the table at a closing,” said Jeffrey S. Reich, a partner at the law firm Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz.

这些税费包括转让税、房贷登记税(mortgage recording tax)和豪宅税。“每次接待外地买家——还不仅仅是海外买家，也包括居住在其他州的美国人——他们在成交的时候都会被即将面临的税费吓到。”律师事务所Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz的合伙人杰弗里·S·莱希(Jeffrey S. Reich)说。

Buyers who are borrowing more than $500,000 must pay a mortgage recording tax of 2.175 percent of the total; for properties of more than $1 million, there is an additional 1 percent mansion tax. Then there are the transfer taxes, which can total close to 2 percent of the purchase price, and are supposedly the responsibility of the seller, but in a market like the current one, are often paid by the buyer. “It ends up that you can pay over 5 percent in taxes just for the benefit of being able to invest your money in New York City,” Mr. Reich said.

贷款超过50万美元（约合人民币306万元）的买家，必须支付总额的2.175%，作为房贷登记税；如购买价值超过100万美元（约合人民币612万元）的房产，还需额外缴纳1%的豪宅税。此外还有转让税，其总额可达售价的2%，本该由卖家支付，但在一个当前这样的市场里，转让税往往是由买家支付的。“这样算下来，你可能需要支付超过5%的税费，就是为了能够享受在纽约投资的好处。”莱希说。

In recent weeks, an idea has been floated of also charging a so-called pied-à-terre tax for part-time residents who buy expensive properties. Under one proposal, the owner of a unit valued at between $5 million and $6 million would pay 0.5 percent of the amount over the $5 million threshold. This would gradually increase, capping off at properties of more than $25 million, where the owner would pay a $370,000 fee plus 4 percent of the amount over $25 million.

最近几周，出现了一个新观点，就是要额外征收所谓的“临时住所税”(pied-à-terre tax)，其征收对象是购买昂贵房产作为临时住所的住户。在一项提议下，如果房主的单元价值在500到600万美元（约合人民币3058到3670万），那么房主需要对超过500万美元的部分支付0.5%的临时住所税。而且，税负是呈梯级上升的，最高梯级是超过2500万美元（约合人民币1.5亿元）的房产，其房主需要支付37万美元（约合人民币226万元）的费用。同时，对于售价超过2500万美元的部分，还需交纳4%的税。

This could have a chilling effect on the market. “My clients compare New York with Florida,” Mr. Piquet said of his Brazilian clientele, “and if Florida has much lower taxes, that could be a deciding factor for them to buy there instead.”

这对于市场有着寒蝉效应(Chilling effect)。“我的客户会把纽约和佛罗里达做比较，”皮奎特提到他的巴西客户时说，“如果佛罗里达的税费要低很多，那么这会成为一个决定性的因素，促使他们转而在佛罗里达买房。”

New York, of course, is not the only city popular with global buyers that charges high taxes. In London, for instance, a buyer of a new $3 million property would pay nearly 8 percent of the value in taxes and fees, while in Hong Kong, that number can rise to as much as 25 percent, according to Liam Bailey, the global head of research at Knight Frank. London, like New York, is also bracing for the possibility of an additional tax next year, with a proposal to charge a mansion tax on properties valued at more than 2 million pounds, Mr. Bailey said.

当然，纽约不是唯一一个受到全球买家热捧的高税费城市。比如说在伦敦，如果购置价值300万美元（约合人民币1835万元）的新房，买家需支付将近8%的税费；而在香港，这一比例可能高达25%。这些数据来源于莱坊国际全球住宅研究部的主管利亚姆·巴莱(Liam Bailey)。伦敦和纽约一样，也在考虑明年额外设立一个税种的可能性。有提议说，要对价值超过200万英镑（约合人民币1969万元）的房产征收豪宅税，巴莱如是说。

In London, and increasingly in New York, there is a feeling that wealthy foreign buyers are driving up the price of real estate for locals. There is also a fear that so many part-time residents will create ghostly avenues of tall towers that stand mostly dark and vacant in the night sky.

在伦敦（在纽约也日益如此），人们感觉，富裕的外国买家正在抬高当地的房价，让本地人不胜其扰。还有人担忧，如此众多的临时住户，会催生出一条又一条“鬼街”，街边的高楼大厦在夜空下大多黑压压的一片，里面空无一人。

The jury is still out, and the luxury market fueled by foreign wealth could wane. Still, half the buyers of properties priced above 2 million pounds in Central London are foreign nationals, Mr. Bailey said; they show no sign of leaving anytime soon. If the trend continues apace, New York might soon be able to make a similar claim.

前景仍不明朗，而被外国富豪炒起来的奢华住宅市场也可能会衰落。不过，在伦敦市中心购买超过200万英镑房产的买家当中，依然有半数是外国人，巴莱如是说；这些人还没有任何在短期内离开的迹象。如果这个趋势继续快速发展下去，纽约或许很快也能与伦敦并驾齐驱了。