Sales of $10M-plus apartments down 14% in 2015

Though Manhattan apartment prices hit record-breaking levels last year, the same could not be said for the volume of luxury apartment sales.

Sales of units priced at $10 million or more in the borough fell nearly 14 percent year-over-year in 2015 — with only 177 apartments at that price point sold in Manhattan last year, compared to a record 205 in 2014.

While units priced $10 million and up comprise only 1.4 percent of Manhattan’s total apartment sales, they make up 14.4 percent of the dollar volume, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Brokers cited resistance from buyers to rising prices, as well as a slowdown in transactions in the second half of the year attributed to increased global economic uncertainty.

“The buyer that used to drive our market is being cautious,” Kirk Henckels of Stribling & Associates told the Journal.

Older co-op buildings saw the greatest decline in transaction volume, with sales of co-ops priced at $10 million and up falling nearly 25 percent in 2015 – to 46 in 2015 from 61 the year prior.

Going beyond the $10 million benchmark, there was a slighter drop in sales of units priced at $20 million or more – 44 in 2015, compared to 48 in 2014 – while the five apartments sold at $50 million or more last year was only one less than in 2014. [WSJ] – Rey Mashayekhi