Prestigious Manhattan locations are being purchased by absentee buyers for their occasional visits, with ill effects for those who want to call Manhattan their first home. New construction is often targeted for wealthy part-timers, not residents.
"Donald Trump says that more than half the condo owners at his buildings on Central Park West and Park Avenue are part-timers. These people "may not even know the address" of their New York holdings, says Mr. Trump, but "they'd still rather own a place in New York than schlep to a hotel."
"But the occasional occupants are troubling to some full-time residents, who say their buildings are left depressingly hollow. And the popularity of the costly apartments helps boost Manhattan prices for everyone, draining away developers' interest in erecting middle-class buildings on the city's few available parcels and making one of the world's most expensive real-estate markets even more forbidding to average buyers."
"To have so many apartments sitting empty when there is an affordable-housing crisis in New York City raises a "political question," says Mitchell Duneier, a professor of urban sociology at Princeton University."
"In general, these part-time residents aren't speculators angling to make a quick profit by flipping their units. Instead, they view Manhattan property as an excellent asset, especially since it has largely escaped the real-estate downturn that has hit much of the country."
"The rise in absentee owners worries some Manhattan residents and urban-affairs experts, who say too many out-of-towners can sap the vitality out of buildings. "It deadens the whole neighborhood," says society decorator Keith Irvine, a long-time Upper East Side resident. "You sometimes get a sense that whole streets are deserted."
"Mr. Duneier of Princeton and others believe Manhattan's building boom over the past few years is contributing to the rise in wealthy part-time residents. Developers completed more than 4,506 condo units in Manhattan between 2001 and 2003, compared with 2,167 in the prior three-year period, according to the Real Estate Board of New York. Because the bulk of these units target the upper end, which often attracts out-of-town investors, many buyers in the middle are being priced out Cooperative buildings -- the most prevalent form of apartment ownership in Manhattan -- rarely allow absentee owners."
Editor's note: This article will be available to non-subscribers of the Online Wall Street Journal for up to seven days
Thanks to Mark Boshnack
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