Carrie Chiang

Chiang is a longtime guard of the gateway to foreign money.

She earned the nickname the “condo queen” in the 1990s for steering international buyers to Donald Trump’s new development projects. Dealing units for the developer-turned-president was her claim to fame after arriving in the city in 1988, following years of living in Brazil. 

The Shanghai-born, Hong Kong-raised broker was hand-picked by Barbara Corcoran after taking her course at New York University and quickly climbed the ranks as a top producer. After decades in the business, she’s become a fixture of the longtime power brokers that once dominated Manhattan’s market.

Chiang has sold more than 100 townhouses, including six properties that once housed the Lycée Français. She helped broker a $100 million deal with Hong Kong investors that paved the way for Riverside Boulevard on the Upper West Side.

Her client roster includes Barbra Streisand, Jim Carrey and the now-disgraced rapper and producer, Sean “Diddy” Combs. 

Known for arriving at showings in a minivan, Chiang belongs to a shrinking class of dealmakers who built their careers before the celebrity and social media-powered brokers flooded the scene. As the industry tilts toward Instagram followings, venture-backed platforms and personal branding, Chiang and the rest of the legacy players’ grip on Manhattan real estate is loosening. 

— Sheridan Wall