UAE Real Estate Investors Set Sights on New York Properties

UAE-based property investors are taking an interest in prime properties in Midtown Manhattan, New York, as travel restrictions ease and the urban exodus seen during the pandemic starts to reverse, according to Knight Frank. The real estate company said the number of contracts for Manhattan properties signed in October 2021 is up 43 percent compared with the same month in 2020, while new listings have been in decline since reaching a peak in August 2020.   After four years of falling prices, annual price growth is expected to reach five percent in 2022, representing Manhattan’s highest rate of growth for seven years, Knight Frank said. “With many overseas buyers unable to travel to the United States since the onset of the pandemic, domestic buyers have been the primary purchasers of New York real estate in the past 18 months,” said Georgina Atkinson, Associate Partner at Knight Frank. “However, what we are now starting to see is the return of international buyers specifically and an uptick in direct enquiries from clients based in the UAE looking to purchase in New York, more specifically in prime Midtown.”