Forget about new brokerage models, new markets and new economic realities. When it came to the top of the New York City residential sales market in 2011 consistency was king. (See the top 10 sales below.)
The effects of the European debt crisis crept across the Atlantic Ocean this summer, and hindered the traditional high season for sales — but not for the ultra-rich: 11 of the 25 Manhattan sales worth more than $20 million closed in June, July and August. In fact, July 15, the very same day eight European banks failed their stress tests, the ninth and 17th priciest sales of the year closed for a combined $49.75 million.
Despite the crises abroad, 2011 was the year foreign investors, particularly from Russia and China, became the darlings of residential brokers. In fact, the top purchase of the year, based on closings compiled by Streeteasy.com for The Real Deal, a $48 million condominium at the Plaza, was made by Russian composer Igor Krutoy. But for the rest of the $20 million-plus residential market, the condos that foreigners tend to prefer gave way to co-ops, which comprised 12 of the top sales. Just nine of the top 25 sales were condos.
The surging residential market downtown was another theme of 2011, yet for all the talk, just one of the top 25 sales, a penthouse at 141 Prince Street in the well-established neighborhood of Soho, occurred below 14th Street. Meanwhile, 15 of the top sales occurred in the old-money Lenox Hill and the Upper East Side. In fact, stalwarts Park and Fifth avenues combined to take more than half of the $20 million-plus transactions.
Source: Sales data from Streeteasy.com and buyer/seller information from various published reports
As for the priciest sale, it was actually a tie between the aforementioned Plaza condo, which sold in March, and the Vanderbilt Mansion at 16 East 69th Street, which sold July 6 to Libet Johnson, heiress to the Johnson & Johnson fortune, for $48 million. The reported $88 million sale of Sandy Weill’s 15 Central Park West condo was excluded because it didn’t close by the end of the year.
That was not quite as high as the $53 million sale of the Harkness Mansion in 2006, which holds the record for priciest single-family home in Manhattan. But Christopher Flowers took a $16.5 million loss on that deal, as his $36.5 million sale of the mansion at 4 East 75th Street placed third last year.
Two Fifth Avenue co-ops rounded out the top five. Developer Larry Heyman purchased Limited Brands founder Leslie Wexner’s 834 Fifth Avenue spread for $36 million, and William Lie Zeckendorf netted $34.6 million in July for a 927 Fifth Avenue co-op he bought eight months earlier for $29.1 million.
Elsewhere on the top 10, a penthouse at the Mandarin Oriental residences near Columbus Circle sold for $30.55 million and Scott Bommer, the founder of hedge fund SAB Capital who purchased Zeckendorf’s 927 Fifth Avenue home, got $30 million for his 50 Central Park South condo. Two more financiers appeared towards the bottom of the list: Cyrus Capital Partners chief investment officer Stephen Freidham’s $26.75 million purchase of a 1020 Fifth Avenue duplex and David Matlin’s 7,500-square-foot home at 620 Park Avenue netted $25 million.
And if the proliferation of Wall Street on the list doesn’t prove the isolated nature of Manhattan’s most expensive properties, consider that William Lie Zeckendorf, a member of one of New York City’s first families of real estate, made multiple appearances on the top 10 list. Part Zeckendorf was both the buyer of the eighth most expensive home, an apartment at 740 Park Avenue that cost him $27 million, and the seller of the fifth costliest, the sale at 927 Fifth Avenue.
