The sinking euro hasn’t derailed foreign appetite for premiere U.S. residential real estate such as along New York’s Fifth Avenue, at least for now, top real estate professionals said today. “We thought our foreign buyers would flee, but they haven’t as yet,” said Pamela Liebman, president and CEO of the Corcoran Group, at the Reuters Global Real Estate and Infrastructure Summit in New York, Reuters reported. The next several weeks will reveal whether the market chaos that recently swept the euro to a four-year low will eat away at foreign demand for Manhattan properties, she said. “It still feels as good as it did before the euro crisis, but we’re waiting to see, and it’s nowhere near what it was with the condo boom,” Liebman added. Foreign buyers are looking for a safe place to put their money, and they are finding that in the best-known U.S. addresses, said Jay Koster, president of Americas Capital Markets for Jones Lang LaSalle. “There is tremendous
appetite especially if [the address] says Fifth Avenue or Park Avenue or Madison Avenue,” he said. [Reuters]

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The sinking euro hasn’t derailed foreign appetite for premiere U.S. residential real estate such as along New York’s Fifth Avenue, at least for now, top real estate professionals said today. “We thought our foreign buyers would flee, but they haven’t as yet,” said Pamela Liebman, president and CEO of the Corcoran Group, at the Reuters Global Real Estate and Infrastructure Summit in New York, Reuters reported. The next several weeks will reveal whether the market chaos that recently swept the euro to a four-year low will eat away at foreign demand for Manhattan properties, she said. “It still feels as good as it did before the euro crisis, but we’re waiting to see, and it’s nowhere near what it was with the condo boom,” Liebman added. Foreign buyers are looking for a safe place to put their money, and they are finding that in the best-known U.S. addresses, said Jay Koster, president of Americas Capital Markets for Jones Lang LaSalle. “There is tremendous
appetite especially if [the address] says Fifth Avenue or Park Avenue or Madison Avenue,” he said. [Reuters]

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From left: Whitney Wilcox, Isaac Zion, Howard Nottingham, Jay Koster, Steven Koppel, at last night’s REBNY meeting

Lenders mulling which borrowers to chase into foreclosure will be considering not only the viability of the struggling real estate projects but also the relationship with the developers, finance experts said at a panel last night held at the Real Estate Board of New York. While most lenders do not want to take back distressed properties and are content to extend loan terms, in certain situations they will move against the owners. In those cases, aggressive efforts to take back properties will at times be made based on the level of business the borrower has with the lender, said panelist Steven Koppel, partner at law firm Jones Day. “A strong bank may have more of an appetite to force the issue, especially if the borrowing entity is not a client they want in the future or is in an asset class they are not really interested in,” Koppel said. Comments

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