Air purification systems are the latest luxury amenity

Buyers are shelling out big bucks for clean air

An air ventilation system
An air ventilation system

What’s air worth to you? Some well-heeled buyers are demanding ultra-luxe air purification systems prior to moving in — and developers are catching on.

For instance, to attract buyers – and hypochondriacs — the developers of 155 East 79th Street, a condominium currently under construction on the Upper East Side, will boast ventilation technology that cleanses air with a hospital operating-room-grade purification system, according to the Wall Street Journal.

And in the Hamptons, developer Peter Sabbeth is installing a $5,000 air-ventilation system in his latest spec home. The system not only exchanges air, it also uses heat from the outgoing stale air to maintain temperature and humidity. The 5,500-square-foot, six-bedroom, five-bathroom home is listed for $5.95 million.

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“There’s a real big conversation in the building industry and building-science community about these things,” Barry Stephens, business development and technology director for Zehnder, a Switzerland-based company that sells energy-efficient ventilation systems, told the Journal. “Things are changing rapidly.”

Prices for a high-end system range from about $4,500 for a typically sized apartment to about $10,000 for a very large home. A system for a large apartment building can cost more than $1 million. [WSJ] Christopher Cameron