With China recently placing extra requirements on capital outflow, property markets around the world are seeing the impact. According to a recent article in Bloomberg, first time Chinese buyers are finding it more difficult to transfer money for payments and are backing out of overseas property deals. The difficulty is due to a crackdown on existing currency conversion restrictions in China, now requiring extra documentation from customers, causing many buyers to hesitate on going forward with purchasing properties overseas. While this hesitation is seen more with first time buyers opposed to well seasoned Chinese investors, the implementation of the extra requirements at the beginning of this year has caused a “shake-up” in many luxury property markets.

Lucky for Upper East Side townhouse owners it is unlikely that these fresh requirements will impact this particular area of New York City’s luxury market. While foreign buyers may play a significant role in other areas of the market, such as the high-end, new development condo market, historically the grand majority of townhouse purchasers on the Upper East Side are in fact New Yorkers. Taking a look at the last ten townhouse sales in the neighborhood, none of these homes were purchased by a foreign entity. So while other sellers sweat over the next few months as we really see how much of an impact this change in China will play in the luxury property market, know that as a townhouse owner you won’t see the same effects.