曼哈顿到底空着多少房子？

曼哈顿到底空着多少房子?

The marble lobby at CitySpire, a skyscraping 72-story tower in Midtown, bustles with rushing people bundled against the cold. Nattily dressed doormen hail taxis and see to a constant stream of deliveries.

CitySpire是中城区(Midtown)的一座72层摩天大楼。在它铺满大理石的大堂里，熙熙攘攘的人群裹紧衣服抵御寒冷。衣冠楚楚的门卫招呼着出租车，并打理着络绎不绝的邮件。

Yet the mixed-use building — the first 23 stories house offices — is not as crowded as it appears. CitySpire, at 150 West 56th Street across from Carnegie Hall, is one of the least occupied buildings in Manhattan, with more than 60 percent of its residential floors made up of investment properties and pieds-à-terre, according to data from the New York City Independent Budget Office.

不过，这座23层以下是写字间的混合用途建筑，并不像它看起来那么拥挤。CitySpire位于西56街150号，卡内基音乐厅(Carnegie Hall)的对面，是曼哈顿占用率最低的建筑之一。根据纽约市独立预算办公室(New York City Independent Budget Office)的数据，其住宅层内有超过60%的房源是投资标的或临时住所(pieds-à-terre)。

The issue of occupancy in New York City has become a hot-button topic in recent months, with much made of foreigners who buy expensive apartments to use for just a few weeks a year. Some argue that they drive up prices, while others bemoan the fact that these buyers do not pay personal income taxes. A bill has been introduced in Albany that would impose an annual pied-à-terre tax on properties worth $5 million or more.

最近几个月，纽约市的房屋占用率(occupancy)问题已成为一个热点话题，有很多房屋的使用者是外国人，他们购买了昂贵的公寓，但是一年里只住短短几周时间。有些人认为这些购房者哄抬了房价;还有人哀叹这些购房者不缴纳个人所得税。奥尔巴尼会议(Albany)已经提出一项法案，将对价值超过 500万美元(约合人民币3130万元)的房产每年征收临时住所税。

Despite all the interest, few hard figures have been available. At the request of The New York Times, the budget office, an independent city agency, reviewed New York City tax data. The agency determined that nearly one quarter of the apartments in New York City are not used as primary residences, serving either as pieds-à-terre or investment properties that are rented out to tenants.

尽管人们对这个问题抱有很大的兴趣，但很少有硬性数据可供参考。预算办公室作为一家独立的城市机构，应《纽约时报》要求，审查了纽约市的税收数据。该机构认定，纽约市有近四分之一的公寓未被当做主要住宅使用，而是作为临时住所或用于放租的投资房产。

As a tenant at CitySpire, Nicholas Richards has a front-row seat on a pied-à-terre-packed building. “If you pay attention to the lobby on a Friday or a Monday, you’ll see a lot of key exchanges taking place and people with suitcases coming and going,” said Mr. Richards, who rents a studio in the building, returning home to Boston on weekends.

尼古拉斯·理查兹(Nicholas Richards)是CitySpire的一名公寓租户，可以近距离观察这栋满是临时住所的楼盘。“如果你在星期五或星期一注意观察大堂，就会看到有很多人在交换钥匙，提着行李箱来来往往。”理查兹在楼内租了一套单间公寓，周末则回到波士顿的家里居住。

“Twenty-four percent of co-op and condo apartments citywide are not the primary residence of their owners,” said George V. Sweeting, the deputy director of the budget office, who oversaw the research. “Not all of these units are pieds-à-terre; many are likely owned by investors or original sponsors renting out the units.”

“全市有24%的合作公寓和共管公寓不是业主的主要住宅，”预算办公室的副主任、负责这项调查的乔治·V·斯威廷(George V. Sweeting)说，“这些单元也并不都是临时住所，很多有可能是投资者或开发商用来放租的。”

The data the budget office used is based on the New York City co-op and condominium tax abatement, which the city began restricting to primary residences in recent years. The agency compared the number of apartments that received the abatement in 2012 to the number that received it this fiscal year to determine its results.

预算办公室所使用的数据，都是基于纽约市合作公寓和共管公寓所享受的减税政策而来的。近年来，市政府已开始将该政策的执行对象限定为主要住宅。预算办公室是比较了2012年和本财年享受该减税优惠的公寓数量，进而得出的结论。

The figures may be underestimates, since the agency did not include apartment buildings that receive 421a tax exemptions, which leaves out some more recently built condos that are widely known to have high concentrations of foreign buyers, including One57 and 15 Central Park West.

这些数据可能低估了真实情况，因为预算办公室并没有考虑那些享受421a免税优惠的公寓楼。因此，虽然按照外界的普遍看法，有些新建的共管公寓楼里集中了许多外国购房者，但它们并没有被包含在数据统计范围内，比如One57和中央公园西15号(15 Central Park West)。

In Manhattan, the number of nonprimary residences is slightly higher than the citywide average, 29 percent, and in some neighborhoods favored by investors, such as Midtown, the share of nonprimary residences ranged as high as 44 percent.

在曼哈顿，非主要住宅的比例占到了29%，略高于全市平均水平，在中城区这类深受投资者青睐的社区，非主要住宅的比例高达44%。

“Many of these buildings were built or converted in the 1980s, and are largely made up of smaller apartments, such as studios and one-bedrooms,” said Jonathan J. Miller, the president of the appraisal firm Miller Samuel. “The smaller the apartments, and the more smaller apartments there are, generally the higher the pied-à-terre factor.”

“这其中，有很多建筑是修建或改建于20世纪80年代，其中的户型大多是单间公寓和一居室这类较小的单元，”房地产估值公司米勒·塞缪尔 (Miller Samuel)的总裁乔纳森·J·米勒(Jonathan J. Miller)说，“一般来说，户型越小，作为临时住所的可能性就越大。”

And perhaps surprisingly, the data indicated that “the vast majority of pieds-à-terre are middle class,” Mr. Miller said. “They are owned by people who have a studio in the city and a home in the suburbs, or maybe it was their first apartment that they chose to keep and rent it out.”

或许令人意外的是，数据显示，“绝大多数临时住所的业主都是中产阶级，”米勒说，“这些业主在市区有一套单间公寓，但是家在郊区;又或者，这些公寓是他们的第一套房，但他们选择将这套房子保留下来放租。”

That’s what Swarna Kuruganti did. In January 2008, she bought an apartment at Madison Green, a towering complex at 5 East 22nd Street. The 424-unit building is a block from Madison Square Park, and the subway is just steps from the front door.

斯瓦纳·库鲁甘缇(Swarna Kuruganti)就是这么做的。2008年1月，她买了一套公寓。公寓所在楼盘叫做麦迪逊绿地(Madison Green)，位于东22街5号，是一处气派的建筑群，包含424套单元，距离麦迪逊广场公园(Madison Square Park)一街区之遥，出了前门走几步路就能到地铁站。

“I had been looking to buy for several years and had built up savings, and even though it was the peak of the real estate market, I signed the deal,” said Ms. Kuruganti, who purchased a one-bedroom on the 26th floor, with views of the Empire State Building.

“那时候，我想买房已经想了好几年，也存了钱，所以虽然是在楼市的高峰期，我还是签了约。”库鲁甘缇说，她买下了26楼的一套一居室，坐拥帝国大厦的景观。

At the time, Ms. Kuruganti was single and working as a management consultant, which involved a lot of travel. “I wasn’t really home other than two or three months a year,” she said. “I would come home on the weekends, but on Monday morning I would be back on the plane.” She knew her neighbors well enough to say hello as they passed in the hall, “but these high-rises are like mini cities, with so many apartments and so many people. It is like a world unto its own,” she said.

当时，作为管理顾问的库鲁甘缇是单身，需要经常出差。“一年当中，我其实只有两、三个月在家，”她说，“我会回家度周末，但是一到星期一早晨，我就又回到飞机上了。”她跟邻居都是点头之交，平常在大堂里擦肩而过时会打个招呼。“但是这些高楼就像一座座小城市，有那么多的公寓和居民。就像是个自成体系的小世界。”她说。

After three years of living at Madison Green, Ms. Kuruganti met the man who became her husband, and they moved to Bloomfield, N.J. She debated selling the apartment, but “it was my first real estate investment, and all the people I talked to swore it was a good investment and told me I should keep it.” So Ms. Kuruganti, who is a founder of the start-up Wellwatch.co, began renting it out.

在麦迪逊绿地住了三年后，库鲁甘缇结识了她后来的丈夫，他们搬到了新泽西州的布卢姆菲尔德(Bloomfield)。她考虑过要把纽约的公寓卖掉，但“那是我第一笔真正的房地产投资，所有人都跟我发誓，这是一笔很好的投资，我应该留着房子。”于是，现为初创公司Wellwatch.co创始人的库鲁甘缇开始将房子出租。

“The monthlies are low, partly because the building has so many apartments, and it is a great location, very central,” said Nathaniel Faust, the associate broker at Citi Habitats who helped Ms. Kuruganti find her current tenants, who pay $4,500 a month in rent. “Since the common charges and real estate taxes are low, Swarna can cover her monthlies and then some with the rent, so it is doing very well for her.”

“月供比较低，部分原因是楼里有很多公寓。而且这里的位置很好，比较靠近市中心，”房地产公司花旗居屋(Citi Habitats)的助理经纪人纳撒尼尔·福斯特(Nathaniel Faust)说，他帮助库鲁甘缇找到了现在的租户，每月支付4500美元(约合人民币28166元)房租。“由于物业费和房产税比较低，斯瓦纳可以用收来的租金支付月供，还有部分剩余。所以这样的安排对她来说很好。”

Almost half the apartments at Madison Green are nonprimary residences. Like many of the properties flagged by the Independent Budget Office data, Madison Green is a relative bargain for its neighborhood. A two-bedroom apartment is on the market at Madison Green for $1.895 million, while nearby at the newly completed condominium tower One Madison, a two-bedroom is on the market for $4.65 million, according to StreetEasy.com.

在麦迪逊绿地当中，几乎有半数公寓是非主要住宅。和独立预算办公室标出的许多房产一样，麦迪逊绿地的房价在其所在社区中相对便宜，现有一套两居室以 189.5万美元(约合人民币1186万元)的价格上市;而在附近刚落成的共管公寓楼麦迪逊一号(One Madison)中，一套两居室的挂牌价为465万美元(约合人民币2910万元)。上述数据来自StreetEasy.com。

The building that tops the Independent Budget Office list for the highest percentage of nonprimary residences is the Executive Plaza, at 74.4 percent. Just 97 of the building’s 379 apartments that received the tax abatement in 2012 are still recipients. The building, at 150 West 51st Street, allows owners to rent out their apartments by the month, and the units are generally small, “some very small, like less than 400 square feet,” said Pej Barlavi, the owner of Barlavi Realty, who is familiar with the building. “It isn’t surprising that it would have the highest ratio of investor apartments, because it operates more like a hotel than a condo.”

在独立预算办公室列出的榜单中，非主要住宅占比最高的楼盘是行政广场(Executive Plaza)，其比例为74.4%。2012年，行政广场内享有减税优惠的公寓有379套，而现在，在这379套公寓当中依然享有减税优惠的，只有97套了。行政广场位于西51街150号，允许业主按月出租他们的公寓，楼内的单元一般都较小，“有些房子特别小，还不到400平方英尺(约合37平方米)，” 巴拉维地产(Barlavi Realty)的所有人派伊·巴拉维(Pej Barlavi)说，他对这个楼盘很熟悉，“难怪它的投资房占比最高，因为它的运营更像酒店而不是共管公寓楼。”

The building has 12 apartments for sale, including a one-bedroom that is listed for $725,000, as well as 95 units for rent, according to StreetEasy.

根据StreetEasy的数据，这栋楼内有12套公寓待售，包括一套挂牌价72.5万美元(约合人民币454万元)的一居室，另外还有95套出租单元。

Other buildings on the list include Three Worldwide Plaza at 393 West 49th Street, where more than 54 percent of the units are nonprimary residences; the Vanderbilt at 235 East 40th Street, with nearly 53 percent; and the Zeckendorf Towers at 1 Irving Place, 51 percent.

其他榜上有名的楼盘还包括，西49街393号的环球广场三号(Three Worldwide Plaza)，那里有超过54%的单元为非主要住宅;东40街235号的范德堡大楼(Vanderbilt)内有近53%的非主要住宅;而在欧文广场1号的泽肯多夫大厦(Zeckendorf Towers)，该比例为51%。

Some full-time residents who live among a large number of pieds-à-terre or investment properties say their buildings still seem like a home. “While not all of the apartments in the building are owner-occupied, I know many of the landlords, and it doesn’t feel the tiniest bit transient,” said Patti Galluzzi, who owns a duplex penthouse at Madison Green.

在临时住所和投资房产占比很大的楼盘里，有些常住居民(full-time resident)表示，他们的大楼依然像个家。“虽然楼里并非所有公寓都是自住房，但我认识很多业主，一点也不觉得这里是流动人口聚居区。”麦迪逊绿地复式顶层公寓的业主帕蒂·加卢齐(Patti Galluzzi)说。

In 2000, Ms. Galluzzi and her husband purchased the apartment, which has a wraparound balcony and nearly unimpeded views of the city skyline, for themselves and their two children. “This place is very much my home,” said Ms. Galluzzi, surveying her living room, which has a lived-in feel, with toys scattered about and paperwork and coffee mugs strewn on the dining table.

2000年，加卢齐和丈夫为自己及两个孩子购下了这套公寓。公寓带一座环绕式阳台，城市天际线近乎一览无余。“这个地方很有家的感觉。”加卢齐说着，打量着她的客厅。客厅里很有生活气息，玩具丢得到处都是，文件和咖啡杯随意放在餐桌上。

Alan Ebert feels much the same about the two-bedroom he has lived in for 48 years at the Parc Vendôme, at 353 West 56th Street. Of the apartments there that received the abatement in 2012, roughly half are no longer eligible because they are pieds-à-terre or investment properties, according to the budget office. But to Mr. Ebert, who serves on the condominium board, it doesn’t seem the least bit vacant.

艾伦·艾伯特(Alan Ebert)对于自己住了48年的两居室也是一样的感觉。这套房子位于西56街353号的旺多姆公园(Parc Vendôme)。根据预算办公室的数据，在2012年获得免税优惠的公寓当中，现在约有半数不再具备减税资格，因为它们是临时住所或投资房产。但是对于身为该共管公寓楼管委会成员的艾伯特来说，这处楼盘一点都不像空楼。

“We are not a bed-and-breakfast, you cannot rent out your apartment for less than three months,” he said. “We have a very strong community feel here. We just held a cabaret night and it was packed with about 100 people in attendance.”

“我们这里不是B&B(住宿加早餐)旅店，你不能把公寓以短于三个月的期限放租，”他说，“这里的社区感是很强的。我们刚举办了一个歌舞表演晚会，现场大约挤了100名观众。”

While the budget office research sheds light on ownership across the city, the true number of part-time owners is difficult to pin down. That is because buildings that do not receive the particular tax abatement the budget office examined were excluded. Many of these unconsidered buildings are recipients of a more lucrative tax break known as the 421a tax exemption.

虽然，通过预算办公室的研究结果，可对整个纽约市的住房所有者现象窥豹一斑，但是那些非主要住宅业主的真实人数，是很难被确定的，因为享有其他减税优惠的楼盘并未被包括在预算办公室的统计范围内。其中有许多楼盘，享有的是优惠力度更大的421a免税政策。

“The I.B.O. data doesn’t include townhouses or 421a buildings, so there are a lot of misses, but of the condos and co-ops that are captured, the number of nonprimary residents is high,” said Andrew A. Beveridge, the president of Social Explorer, a firm that tracks census data and demographic information, and the chairman of the sociology department at Queens College.

“独立预算办公室的数据不包括联排别墅或421a楼盘，所以有很多疏漏，但是在已统计的共管公寓和合作公寓中，非常住居民的人数很多。”Social Explorer公司总裁、皇后学院(Queens College)社会学系主任安德鲁·A·贝弗里奇(Andrew A. Beveridge)说。Social Explorer是一家跟踪普查数据和人口统计信息的公司。

To fill in the data gaps and to better inform the discussion about potentially taxing pieds-à-terre, the New York City Department of Finance has spent the past month examining the ownership status of units with the 421a tax exemption.

为填补数据空白，以便为围绕临时住所是否征税的讨论提供更充分的信息，纽约市财政局(New York City Department of Finance)上月(2014年12月——译注)花了一整个月的时间，对享有421a免税优惠的公寓单元进行了所有权状况的审查。

So far, it has been a tall order. “It is complicated, since there is no requirement that you have to be a permanent resident to be eligible for the 421a tax exemption,” said Theodore Oberman, the director of commercial exemptions for the Department of Finance. “So it isn’t something we typically capture.”

到目前为止，这是一项艰巨的任务。“这很复杂，因为并未规定你必须是一名永久居民，才有资格享有421a免税优惠，”财政局负责商业免税事务的西奥多·奥伯曼(Theodore Oberman)说，“所以这不是我们通常统计的领域。”

To overcome this hurdle, the agency is reviewing apartment ownership by looking at owners’ Social Security numbers along with their New York City personal income tax records. So far, it appears that in Manhattan, around 36 percent of apartment owners in 421a buildings are nonprimary residents and a slightly smaller percentage are primary residents. However, results are inconclusive because the remainder could not be identified.

为克服这一障碍，该机构正通过查看业主的社保编号及其在纽约市的个人所得税记录，来审查公寓的所有者情况。到目前为止的统计结果表明，在享受 421a优惠的曼哈顿楼盘中，大约有36%的公寓业主并不是常住居民，而常住居民的占比略低于此。然而这个结果也是不确定的，因为无法识别其余业主的身份。