USA! USA! Homegrown Money Dominates Manhattan Investment Sales During Record '07

For all the chatter about foreign money inundating Manhattan, when it comes to buying and selling massive properties like skyscrapers and apartment portfolios, Americans still lead the way. You go, America!

According to a new report from brokerage heavyweight Cushman & Wakefield, only 12 percent of the investment-sales transactions closed or put under contract in the first three quarters of 2007 have been to foreign buyers alone. It’s been a banner, booming year for investment-sales in Manhattan—the $42.5 billion in property traded through Sept. 30 already dwarfs the amount traded in all of 2006, which itself was a record year.

Other takeaways from the report:

• Most of the closed or under contract sales through Sept. 30 have been, by far, in midtown: over $35.5 billion total.

• Downtown has recorded “only” $4 billion in investment sales.

• Most of the traded office buildings in Manhattan this year have been of the top-tier, Class A variety.

• In fact, most of the traded property this year, period, has been Class A office buildings.

The report notes, though, that for all the superb numbers in the first nine months of 2007, the credit market problems should—if they haven’t already—start to impact the market. The Observer’s John Koblin reported on that a couple of weeks ago.

The report was prepared by Cushman & Wakefield's New York Capital Markets Group, which includes top brokers Scott Latham, Richard Baxter, Jon Caplan and Ron Cohen.