紐約房產商熱烈歡迎老外來買房

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

過去幾個月裏，至少已經有三家房地產經紀公司高調宣佈了它們的國際化經營路線——因此，這肯定是個潮流。

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.

一開始，德國經紀公司Engel & Völkers宣佈，它將在紐約市開設辦事處；接着，紐約大鱷道格拉斯·艾麗曼房地產公司(Douglas Elliman Real Estate)和倫敦的經紀公司萊坊國際(Knight Frank)就其長期合作關係達成協議，創立了道格拉斯·艾麗曼美居/萊坊住宅(Douglas Elliman Fine Homes/Knight Frank Residential)。最後，幾星期前，Town Residential也宣佈將在倫敦設立辦事處，同時在巴、尼日利亞、香港等遙遠地區拓展合作關係。

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.

爲什麼紐約在全球市場當中如此受重視呢？畢竟，房地產業的地域性是很強的；況且紐約人素來以自己的獨特而自豪，他們的共管公寓樓外形古怪，管委會審批申請的流程冗長，社區身份的觀念也根深蒂固。

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.

不過近幾十年來，尤其是在經濟衰退後的這些年裏，紐約市的房地產業經歷了重大變遷。成百上千的高端共管公寓拔地而起，很多建築商已不再考慮當地買家，也就是當地有線電視頻道NY1新聞所說的那些“真正的紐約人”了；相反，當他們標榜其樓盤的住戶能夠坐擁中央公園的廣闊景觀，和酒店式的門房服務時，他們考慮的是海外買家。

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.

而這招似乎已經奏效了。隨着“親外”樓盤的數量達到前所未有的水平，紐約正日益成爲吸引全球財富的一大熱點。“我所有朋友都在倫敦買過年代久遠的聯排別墅，”埃米爾·巴哈迪(Emir Bahadir)說，他是曼哈頓房企RLTY NYC的創始人，也是土耳其一個地產世家的第五代成員，“他們想來紐約，因爲在紐約的開發項目，你可以買到設計美觀且帶游泳池的公寓——這些東西都是倫敦給不了的。”巴哈迪說。他從小在倫敦長大，在瑞士讀過寄宿學校，因此瞭解情況。

“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.”

“紐約的奢華共管公寓首度形成了氣候，而這種產品類型面向的是外地的買家，”Engel & Völkers地產公司紐約辦事處的總裁斯圖爾特·N·西格爾(Stuart N. Siegel)說，“過去，你可能會有奧林匹克大廈(Olympic Tower)或者川普大樓(Trump Tower)，但那些是第一代樓盤，在人們眼裏它們不如經典的聯排別墅或合作公寓。而現在，情況不一樣了。”

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的經紀人小詹姆斯·C·考克斯(James C. Cox Jr.)曾在哈薩克斯坦生活了三年，有很多買家客戶來自這個原爲蘇聯集團成員國之一的國度。“我們很早就關注了伍爾沃斯大廈(Woolworth)，因爲我有幾個客戶有興趣在那裏買房，”他說，“那個樓盤採用了很多深色、厚重的木材，和大塊的大理石板。當地買家可能會不喜歡，因爲它看起來並不新鮮，也沒有現代感；但是可以肯定，我的前蘇聯客戶很鐘意這種風格。”

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.”

鍊金地產(Alchemy Properties)是負責將伍爾沃斯大廈改建成共管公寓樓的開發商。其總裁肯尼思·S·霍恩(Horn)說，其室內設計風格並沒有刻意討好某個特定的客戶羣體。“我們將伍爾沃斯大廈住宅(Woolworth Tower Residences)設計得比較吸引那些喜歡經典設計的人羣，”他說，“我們想建造既有建築重要性，又忠於原物風格的單元。”

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.

不過，紐約開發商的項目正日益迎合外國客戶的需求，已經不是什麼祕密了。這些買家的選擇範圍很廣，既有能夠觀賞遼闊城市景觀的高聳中城區尖塔，比如One57、公園大道(Park Avenue)432號；也有附帶酒店服務的知名品牌，比如曼哈頓下城的公園廣場(Park Place)30號四季公寓(Four Seasons Residences)；還有風格獨特的項目，比如由扎哈·哈迪德(Zaha Hadid)設計、毗鄰高線公園(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.”

“有個開健康保險公司的巴西人，最近在One57買了一套價值6000萬美元（約合人民幣3.7億元）的公寓。而且我們通過電話就賣出了蘇豪川普大廈(Trump SoHo)的一些單元，”皮奎特地產(Piquet Realty)的創始人克里斯蒂亞諾·皮奎特(Cristiano Piquet)說，他有很多巴西客戶，“巴西市場的需求越來越旺盛，幾星期後，選舉一結束，我們緊接着就會迎來一大波買家，”他說，“他們對那邊的未來感到不確定，所以想把錢投到美國這類更加穩定的經濟體中來。”

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.”

當地的房產需求，主要是由全球不穩定因素拉動的。房源的供給量已有所增漲，以滿足需求，而“吸納率依然只接近紐約市正常水平的一半。”Town Residential的銷售負責人溫蒂·梅特蘭(Wendy Maitland)說，“誠然，我們的存量房更多了，而且，某些類別的產品不會像賣家所希望的那樣很快轉手；但是我們現有的存量房和即將上市的存量房，依然處在歷史較低水平。”

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.

出於這樣的考慮，Town Residential正致力於海外擴張。“我們已經開始有意識地與全球各地奢華住宅市場的經紀人建立直接而長遠的聯繫。”梅特蘭說。

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.”

雖然經紀公司正在紛紛進軍海外，吸引外國買家前往曼哈頓（反之亦然），但是他們也不可避免地會遇到一些絆腳石。其中之一，便是紐約的房產稅費。“稅費是一大問題，”Urban Compass的考克斯說，“我們幫助買家組建有限責任公司來避稅、或者儘量減少某些稅費。但是，要想把他們負擔的所有稅費一一解釋清楚，往往是個很大的挑戰。”

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.

這些稅費包括轉讓稅、房貸登記稅(mortgage recording tax)和豪宅稅。“每次接待外地買家——還不僅僅是海外買家，也包括居住在其他州的美國人——他們在成交的時候都會被即將面臨的稅費嚇到。”律師事務所Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz的合夥人傑弗裏·S·萊希(Jeffrey S. Reich)說。

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.

貸款超過50萬美元（約合人民幣306萬元）的買家，必須支付總額的2.175%，作爲房貸登記稅；如購買價值超過100萬美元（約合人民幣612萬元）的房產，還需額外繳納1%的豪宅稅。此外還有轉讓稅，其總額可達售價的2%，本該由賣家支付，但在一個當前這樣的市場裏，轉讓稅往往是由買家支付的。“這樣算下來，你可能需要支付超過5%的稅費，就是爲了能夠享受在紐約投資的好處。”萊希說。

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.

最近幾周，出現了一個新觀點，就是要額外徵收所謂的“臨時住所稅”(pied-à-terre tax)，其徵收對象是購買昂貴房產作爲臨時住所的住戶。在一項提議下，如果房主的單元價值在500到600萬美元（約合人民幣3058到3670萬），那麼房主需要對超過500萬美元的部分支付0.5%的臨時住所稅。而且，稅負是呈梯級上升的，最高梯級是超過2500萬美元（約合人民幣1.5億元）的房產，其房主需要支付37萬美元（約合人民幣226萬元）的費用。同時，對於售價超過2500萬美元的部分，還需交納4%的稅。

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.”

這對於市場有着寒蟬效應(Chilling effect)。“我的客戶會把紐約和佛羅里達做比較，”皮奎特提到他的巴西客戶時說，“如果佛羅里達的稅費要低很多，那麼這會成爲一個決定性的因素，促使他們轉而在佛羅里達買房。”

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.

當然，紐約不是唯一一個受到全球買家熱捧的高稅費城市。比如說在倫敦，如果購置價值300萬美元（約合人民幣1835萬元）的新房，買家需支付將近8%的稅費；而在香港，這一比例可能高達25%。這些數據來源於萊坊國際全球住宅研究部的主管利亞姆·巴萊(Liam Bailey)。倫敦和紐約一樣，也在考慮明年額外設立一個稅種的可能性。有提議說，要對價值超過200萬英鎊（約合人民幣1969萬元）的房產徵收豪宅稅，巴萊如是說。

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.

在倫敦（在紐約也日益如此），人們感覺，富裕的外國買家正在擡高當地的房價，讓本地人不勝其擾。還有人擔憂，如此衆多的臨時住戶，會催生出一條又一條“鬼街”，街邊的高樓大廈在夜空下大多黑壓壓的一片，裏面空無一人。

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，而被外國富豪炒起來的奢華住宅市場也可能會衰落。不過，在倫敦市中心購買超過200萬英鎊房產的買家當中，依然有半數是外國人，巴萊如是說；這些人還沒有任何在短期內離開的跡象。如果這個趨勢繼續快速發展下去，紐約或許很快也能與倫敦並駕齊驅了。