21 luxury contracts signed, half in new construction: Olshan

Well-heeled buyers scooped up 21 properties priced at $4 million and up last week, half of them in new development, according to Olshan Realty’s weekly luxury market report.

But luxury Manhattan homes, on average, spent more than a year on the market before going into contract, according to the report, which found properties above $4 million took an average of 368 days to sell.

For the week of Feb. 8-14, the total asking price sales volume was $146.2 million, with an average asking price of $6.9 million. The average discount was 9 percent.

The No. 1 contract was a townhouse at 400 West Street, asking $15.950 million – a steep discount from original asking price of $25 million in 2009.

Robert and Cortney Novogratz, television personalities and house flippers, lived in the West Village house with their seven children. The 7,180-square-foot house has five bedrooms, a basketball court and elevator; the Novogratz family purchased it for $4.3 million in 2007 and expanded it.

The No. 2 contract was a co-op at 1120 Fifth Avenue, asking $15.5 million, down slightly from the $15.9 million initial price in September. The seller purchased the unit – which is a 12-room corner apartment – for $9.5 million in 2004. [Olshan Realty] — E.B. Solomont