Manhattan’s luxury townhouse market has a big week

A whopping six Manhattan luxury townhouse contracts were signed last week, the most in a given week since last June, according to the latest market report from residential brokerage Olshan Realty.

So far this year, 48 contracts on townhouses have been signed at asking prices of $4 million and up. Sales increased 33 percent over the same period in 2012, and the average asking price for a townhouse rose 4 percent – to $1,669 per square foot. Overall, 33 Manhattan homes priced at $4 million and above went into contract last week, including 22 condominiums and five co-ops, according to the report.

The two largest signed townhouse contracts of the week were both mansions that, at different times, served as the Kips Bay Boys and Girls Club’s Decorator Show House. The top contract was 54 East 64th Street, a commercially zoned four-story house with an asking price of $28 million. The second-largest contract was 163 East 63rd Street, a 40-foot-wide house built in 1919 and once owned by John Hay “Jock” Whitney, former U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom.

Townhouses continue to be a better value than condos and co-ops, the report said. –Mark Maurer