For Foreign Buyers, Family Homes Over Trophy Towers

IMAGE: The New York Times

The reason Indians are forgoing apartments in flashy new buildings isn’t just financial, said Jason Lanyard, a salesman at Stribling & Associates, who, along with Nicole Grandelli, a saleswoman at Stribling, represents Mr. Sachdev. Political and social pressures at home, particularly how badly buying an apartment in a trophy building would play to a domestic audience, are also having an impact on Indians’ buying choices, they said.

“Indians are very hyper aware of who is and who isn’t a billionaire because the wealth disparity in the country is so strong,” Mr. Lanyard said. He has a client, for instance, who runs a publicly traded bank. “If he were to buy at a building like 15 Central Park West, like the Russians do, his stock would tank,” he said.