Battery Low: Is Fannie Mae Slowing Apartment Sales in Battery Park City?

Posted on Thu, 04-08-2010

Battery Park City is home to some of the most impressive new condominiums in Manhattan. You probably already know this. The condominiums for sale in Battery Park City are also some of the greenest condos for sale in Manhattan. You may already know that, too. But something you might not know -- and which the New Construction Manhattan blog didn't know, either -- is that the condominiums for sale in Battery Park City are also kinda-sorta rentals. It's complicated, but condo buyers in Battery Park City are paying not just for those LEED-certified condos, but for the land on which those condos sit. No, not in a location-location-location sense. More in a "ground lease" sense. Again, it's complicated. But with ground leases set to spike in 2011, it has suddenly become difficult to buy a condominium in Battery Park City.

"Fannie Mae, which has tightened its lending requirements nationwide, has temporarily ceased to purchase individual mortgages for condos and co-ops in the Battery Park City area, according to sellers and brokers there," Crain's Amanda Fung writes. "As a result it has become almost impossible to sell a condominium or co-op in the waterfront neighborhood in lower Manhattan unless an all-cash buyer swoops in."

It's a must-read article for anyone searching for an apartment in Battery Park City -- or just curious about one of the quirkier arrangements in NYC real estate -- but it's also kind of a bummer given the extraordinary condos for sale in Battery Park City. The LEED-certified condos at The Riverhouse, The Millennium Towers and The Visionaire are favorites of ours here at New Construction Manhattan, and it's a shame to see these extraordinary buildings beset by this particular bureaucratic difficulty. We'll obviously be keeping an eye on this situation.

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