There is no restriction on a foreign national buying property in New York. No visa requirement, no residency requirement, no special permission. The obstacles are all downstream of that: which buildings will take you, how you finance it, and what happens to your money when you eventually sell.
Most international buyers I work with are surprised by the same three things. Here they are in the order they will hit you.
First: co-ops will probably say no
Roughly 70% of Manhattan apartments are co-ops — a share that is slowly falling, since new construction is almost entirely condominium (CityRealty). For a foreign buyer, most of that inventory is effectively closed.
A co-op is not real property. You buy shares in a corporation and receive a proprietary lease, which gives the board broad authority over who gets in. Boards interview, demand full financial disclosure, and can reject you without stating a reason — a practice that has survived legal challenge for decades (ELIKA New York).
The problem is not that boards are hostile to foreigners. It is that the standard package asks for things a non-resident structurally cannot produce:
- Two years of U.S. tax returns
- Established U.S. credit history
- A Social Security number
- W-2 income, ideally from steady employment in the New York metro area
Excellent credit in São Paulo, substantial assets, and impeccable references do not substitute for those (ELIKA New York). Boards also worry about absentee ownership, whether the unit will be rented, and how they would pursue unpaid maintenance across a border.
Condominiums are the practical answer. You own real property, there is no board interview, ownership through an LLC or trust is generally permitted, and rentals are usually allowed from the start. The tradeoff is price: comparable condos commonly run 10% to 30% above co-ops, and inventory is thinner in some prime neighborhoods.
I will show you co-ops if you want to see them. But I will tell you honestly which buildings are worth the months of preparation and which will waste them.
Second: financing means 30% to 50% down
Foreign national mortgages exist and are not exotic. They are simply underwritten conservatively, by portfolio lenders and private banks rather than conventional retail lenders.
Typical loan-to-value ratios in 2026 (Moshes Law):
| Property | Typical LTV | Down payment |
|---|---|---|
| Manhattan condo | 60–70% | 30–40% |
| Luxury condo above $3M | 50–60% | 40–50% |
| Brooklyn prime condo | 60–65% | 35–40% |
| Co-op | 50–60% | 40–50% |
Beyond the down payment, expect to document 12 to 24 months of full carrying costs in reserves — principal, interest, taxes and common charges — held in recognized institutions and immediately accessible. On luxury purchases reserves can reach 10% to 20% of the price. Rates typically price 0.5% to 1.5% above comparable domestic loans, and underwriting runs 45 to 60 days, so build that into your contract timeline (Moshes Law).
Lenders will also discount foreign income for currency volatility, often by 10% to 25%. Plan on qualifying with less income than you think you have.
Third: FIRPTA takes 15% off the top when you sell
This is the one that catches people, and it is worth understanding before you buy rather than at closing.
Under the Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act, when a foreign person sells U.S. real estate the buyer is legally required to withhold and remit tax to the IRS. The standard rate is 15% of the amount realized (IRS).
Read "amount realized" carefully. It is the gross sale price, not your profit. It includes cash paid, the value of other property transferred, and any liability the buyer assumes.
You can be withheld against on a sale where you lost money. A $1,000,000 sale producing a $50,000 gain still triggers $150,000 of default withholding (Taxes for Expats).
The three tiers
| Amount realized | Withholding | Condition |
|---|---|---|
| $300,000 or less | 0% | Buyer acquires it as a residence |
| $300,001 – $1,000,000 | 10% | Buyer acquires it as a residence |
| Above $1,000,000, or any non-residence purchase | 15% | — |
The reduced rates depend entirely on your buyer's intentions, not yours. To qualify, the buyer or a family member must have definite plans to live in the property for at least 50% of the days it is used during each of the first two 12-month periods after transfer (IRS). Vacant days do not count. At NYC price points, most sales land in the 15% tier regardless.
Getting the money back sooner
Withholding is not the tax. It is a deposit against the tax. You reconcile it by filing a U.S. return, and if too much was withheld you get a refund — often more than a year later.
The faster route is a withholding certificate, filed on Form 8288-B, which asks the IRS to approve reduced or zero withholding based on your actual expected tax. The IRS normally acts within 90 days of receiving a complete application. If you need an ITIN, file Form W-7 together with the 8288-B (IRS).
Ninety days is longer than most contracts. Start the application when you list, not when you are under contract. The withholding itself is reported by the buyer on Forms 8288 and 8288-A.
One rule that changed, which most guides still get wrong
If you have been reading about NYC purchases, you have probably seen warnings about FinCEN's Residential Real Estate Rule requiring reports on all-cash purchases by entities and trusts.
That rule is not currently in force. On March 19, 2026 the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas vacated it in Flowers Title Companies, LLC v. Bessent, holding that FinCEN lacked statutory authority to issue it. FinCEN's own guidance now states plainly: "reporting persons are not required to file Real Estate Reports with FinCEN and are not subject to liability if they fail to do so" while the order stands (FinCEN).
FinCEN and the Justice Department have appealed, so this can change. The rule was originally set for December 1, 2025, pushed to March 1, 2026, then vacated eighteen days later (Burr & Forman). Anyone quoting you a confident answer here is quoting a moving target. Your attorney should confirm the status at the time you actually close.
Note that this is a separate question from your lender's own anti-money-laundering and source-of-funds review, which has not changed and which you should expect to be thorough.
What I would tell you before you start looking
- Decide co-op versus condo first. It determines your building universe, your financing, and whether you can hold in an entity. Almost everything else follows from it.
- Get the financing conversation done early. Foreign national lending is a specialist product, and a pre-approval from the wrong lender is worthless.
- Bring your tax advisor in before you buy, not before you sell. How you take title affects FIRPTA, estate exposure, and your eventual exit. It is cheap to structure correctly at the start and expensive to fix later.
- Budget the exit. If you may sell within a few years, model the 15% withholding into your return expectations even though you will likely recover part of it.
I work with buyers from Latin America, Europe and Asia, and the site runs in seven languages for a reason. If you are considering New York from abroad, I am happy to walk through the structure before you look at a single apartment.
This is a practitioner's summary and not legal or tax advice. FIRPTA and the FinCEN rule are federal matters with active litigation and real consequences — retain a U.S. real estate attorney and a cross-border tax advisor before you transact.
