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In New York, property firms target Indonesia'€™s super rich

In the US east coast city of New York, affluent Indonesians are sought after by property developers on the look out for Asian buyers with high purchasing power

Satria Sambijantoro (The Jakarta Post)
New York
Sat, May 23, 2015

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In New York, property firms target Indonesia'€™s super rich

I

n the US east coast city of New York, affluent Indonesians are sought after by property developers on the look out for Asian buyers with high purchasing power.

The stable, rapid economic expansion enjoyed by Asia in recent years has boosted the prominence of the region'€™s ultra-rich, including Indonesians, who have embarked on ventures in the residential asset industries of advanced metropolises, where the growth in property prices is among the highest in the world.

When Pamela Liebman, the CEO of US real estate agent firm Corcoran Group, supervised the sale of units in one residential building in upmarket Manhattan, she unexpectedly found that Asian buyers accounted for 75 percent of total sales there.

The apartments in question were selling for US$1.4 million each on average.

'€œIt'€™s extraordinary what has happened to our market in terms of how many Asian buyers we are able to attract,'€ said Liebman, who admitted she sent her subordinates regularly to Asia, particularly China, to maintain relationships with the company'€™s high-end clients there.

As of 2014, Asian buyers accounted for 55 percent of all international sales of newly developed property assets in New York, according to data from the Corcoran Group.

Some Asian investors, Liebman said, were buying property assets in New York for their children, who were studying at respected universities there, such as New York University and Columbia University.

'€œWe consider our relationship with Asia to be of paramount importance to our business in New York City,'€ she noted.

In the city, one luxurious project was specifically aimed at Asia'€™s ultra rich '€” the 53 West 53 Street (53W53) building, a 320-meter residential tower designed by Jean Nouvel, a French architect and winner of the Pritzker Prize, the world'€™s most prestigious architecture award.

When the building is completed in 2018, none of its units will be identical, as each floor has a narrower width as the building reaches its peak, because of Nouvel'€™s tapered-style design.

The owners of the building'€™s residential spaces, which carry a price tag of between $3 million and over $50 million, will be able to enjoy almost unrestrained access to the city'€™s Museum of Modern Art, which is integrated with the building, and will enjoy great views of Central Park.

'€œFamilies from Indonesia have indicated an interest,'€ said Kwee Su-Lin, the vice president of investments for Singapore-based Pontiac Land Group, which acts as the majority shareholder of 53W53 project.

Last year, Indonesia'€™s economic growth decelerated to its slowest pace in five years, but by the end of 2014 the net worth of the 10 richest Indonesians rose to $55 billion, up from $51.8 billion a year earlier, according to Forbes.

'€œWe'€™ve seen a lot of investment coming from Singapore,'€ noted William J. Kambas, an attorney-at-law from Withers Bergman LLP, a law firm dealing with clients who are looking to purchase property in New York.

'€œBut the money'€™s not from Singapore. It'€™s from Indonesia.'€

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