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Law & Taxes

Buying NYC Real Estate as a Foreign or Non-Resident Buyer

By Queenie Zhuang · June 27, 2026 · 8 min read

Buying NYC Real Estate as a Foreign or Non-Resident Buyer

Aude — CC BY-SA 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons

As of June 2026. This is general educational information, not legal, tax, immigration, or financial advice. Rules, rates, and thresholds change — verify with the official sources linked at the end, and consult a licensed attorney, CPA, or mortgage professional before you act.

A question we hear constantly from buyers calling from Shanghai, Vancouver, or a dorm at NYU: Can I even buy here if I'm not a citizen? The short answer is yes. The United States places almost no restrictions on who may own residential real estate — there is no citizenship test, no green card requirement, no special government approval for a foreign buyer to purchase an apartment in Manhattan or a house in Queens. The complications are not about whether you can buy. They are about financing, tax identification, and — the part most people overlook — what happens when you eventually sell or pass the property on. Let's walk through it plainly.

You can buy. The "who can own" question is the easy part.

There is no federal or New York State law barring a non-citizen or non-resident from owning a home or condo. Foreign nationals buy NYC real estate every day, often all-cash. The practical friction shows up in three places: getting a mortgage without a US credit file, getting a tax ID number, and structuring ownership for taxes. None of these is a dealbreaker — they're just steps to plan for.

One note specific to New York: most co-op buildings require board approval, financial disclosure, and often US-based income or assets, which can be hard for an overseas buyer to satisfy. Condominiums and houses are far friendlier to foreign and non-resident buyers. You'll see this reflected in much of our listings and new developments inventory.

Financing: foreign-national loans exist (you don't need a US credit score)

You don't have to pay cash. A category of lender offers foreign-national mortgages that do not require a Social Security number, a US credit history, a US visa, or US-based income. Instead, underwriters look at international credit reports, reference letters from your overseas bank, and verified foreign income and assets.

Two common structures:

  • Full-documentation foreign-national loans — you qualify on verified foreign income and assets.
  • DSCR loans — for investment property, you qualify on the property's projected rental income rather than your personal income.

The trade-off is a larger down payment. Industry programs in 2026 commonly require roughly 25% to 40% down, higher than for a typical US resident, because lenders have less access to traditional credit data. Rates also tend to run higher. If financing matters to your plan, line up a foreign-national lender early — pre-approval shapes what you can realistically offer.

ITIN: your tax ID when you don't have a Social Security number

To file US tax paperwork — and you will need to, especially when you sell or rent out the property — non-residents who aren't eligible for a Social Security number use an ITIN (Individual Taxpayer Identification Number), a nine-digit number from the IRS.

You apply with Form W-7, usually attached to a US tax return. A valid passport generally proves both your identity and foreign status in one document. The IRS requires original documents or copies certified by the issuing agency — it does not accept notarized copies. The IRS charges no fee for the application itself. Two ways to avoid mailing your real passport overseas: use an IRS-authorized Certifying Acceptance Agent (CAA), or book an appointment at an IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center.

Plan for the timeline: the IRS asks you to allow about 7 weeks for processing, stretching to 9–11 weeks during tax season (mid-January to the end of April) or if you apply from abroad. Start early so a missing ITIN doesn't hold up a closing or a tax filing.

FIRPTA: the 15% you'll meet when you SELL

This is the rule that surprises foreign owners most, because it bites on the way out, not the way in. Under FIRPTA (the Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act), when a foreign person sells US real estate, the buyer — not the seller — is the withholding agent and must withhold 15% of the amount realized (essentially the gross sale price, not your profit) and remit it to the IRS using Form 8288 and Form 8288-A.

Read that carefully: it's 15% of the whole price, withheld at closing, regardless of whether you made a gain. It is a prepayment against your eventual US tax, not an extra tax — you reconcile it when you file your US return and can be refunded any excess. But it can tie up a large sum for many months.

Key exceptions worth knowing:

SituationFIRPTA withholding
Buyer will use it as a residence, price $300,000 or lessNone
Buyer will use it as a residence, price $300,001–$1,000,000Reduced to 10%
Most other dispositions by a foreign seller15%

You can also apply to the IRS for a withholding certificate to reduce the amount withheld when 15% of the price clearly exceeds your actual tax liability — useful if you're selling at a thin margin or a loss. This takes time, so start it before closing. A good closing attorney and CPA earn their fee here.

LLC vs. individual ownership

Many foreign buyers ask whether to hold the property in their own name or inside a US LLC (or a more layered structure). There's no one-size answer, and the right choice depends on your goals — privacy, liability protection, number of investors, financing, and especially estate tax (below).

  • In your own name is simplest and cheapest, and can preserve favorable long-term capital-gains treatment, but offers no liability shield and exposes you directly to US estate tax on the property.
  • An LLC can add privacy and liability protection and is common for investment property, but adds filing costs and complexity, and ownership choices interact heavily with both income and estate tax. Some buyers use a US corporation or a two-tier structure specifically to manage estate-tax exposure — this is genuinely technical territory.

This decision should be made before you sign a contract, with a cross-border tax advisor. Restructuring later can trigger tax.

US estate tax: the trap nobody mentions until it's too late

Here is the single most important thing for a non-resident, non-citizen owner to understand. US real estate is treated as US-situated property, so it falls inside the US estate tax net when the owner dies. And the exemption for a non-resident, non-citizen is not the multi-million-dollar amount US citizens enjoy — it is just $60,000, a figure that has stood for decades and is not indexed for inflation. Above that threshold, the estate must file Form 706-NA, and the estate tax rate climbs to as high as 40%.

In plain terms: a foreign buyer who owns a $1.5 million NYC condo in their personal name could, on death, face US estate tax on roughly the value above $60,000 — potentially a seven-figure liability — unless planning is in place. Relief may come from one of the US estate and gift tax treaties (the US has them with roughly 15 countries), which can raise the effective exemption or provide credits, or from holding structures designed for this exact problem. This is precisely why the ownership-structure question above matters so much, and why it belongs in front of a qualified advisor before purchase.

Don't forget the ordinary buyer costs

Foreign or not, every NYC buyer faces the local cost layer: the mansion tax, a one-time buyer-paid tax that starts at 1% on residential purchases of $1,000,000 or more and rises in tiers, plus standard closing costs, and ongoing property taxes and common charges. Build these into your budget from the start. Our neighborhoods and gated communities guides cover the day-to-day logistics — transit, costs, building types — so you can compare areas on the practical merits.

The bottom line

You can absolutely buy. The work is in the structure: arrange foreign-national financing early, get your ITIN in the pipeline, understand that FIRPTA will withhold 15% when you sell, and — above all — get cross-border tax advice on ownership structure and estate-tax exposure before you sign. Do those four things and the rest is ordinary house-hunting. When you're ready to start, contact our team and we'll connect you with the right attorney, CPA, and lender for a cross-border purchase.

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