February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
The Irish have been on a year-long buying spree of luxury apartments and are not poised to stop anytime soon.
Realtors this week tell the Echo about how moneyed Irish buyers are looking to capitalize on favorable exchange rates and a spate of the new construction of luxury condominiums.
With “the means and the savvy to enjoy all New York has to offer,” the euro is going far in New York’s notoriously tough real estate market.
The Irish, at home in New York City’s cosmopolitan glare, have been scooping apartments up at a dizzying rate, some sight unseen.
Marketing experts have been traveling to Ireland with floor plans and artist’s renderings of luxury highrise buildings, only to be sold out by trip’s end.
Developers are wooing well-heeled Irish buyers with the promise of either investment options or the luxury of a weekend pad in New York City.
In what was perhaps the biggest deal in recent memory, Irish buyers purchased almost half of the 300 units in a Midtown Manhattan condo that hasn’t even been built yet.
Amenity-rich and located in top-notch neighborhoods, the newest developments are set to offer service and style for the occasional visitor or an investor looking to rent the units.
There is no end in sight as developers rush to meet the demand from Irish buyers alone.
This market movement comes despite worries that there may be a bubble in the market bound to burst.
Bracing themselves for the Irish tourist onslaught that the holiday season brings, real estate agents are expecting more buyers to follow suit.