Landlords charge more for units that they dub penthouses

A Hell's Kitchen penthouse at West 42nd Street and a chart showing the rental price of an apartment labeled “Penthouse” vs. Top-floor units (Credit: Dan Bamberger)
A Hell's Kitchen penthouse at West 42nd Street and a chart showing the rental price of an apartment labeled “Penthouse” vs. Top-floor units (Credit: Dan Bamberger)

Landlords are charging more for top-floor apartments that they call “penthouses,” according to new research from Citi Habitats, a brokerage that specializes in  apartment rentals. The penthouse label brings the most revenue for units in the middle and lower price tiers  – $10,000 a month or less; adding “PH”  tacks on an average of $1,355, or nearly 30 percent.

Even in apartments that cost more than $10,000 a month, the label ‘PH’ still jacks up the rent but only by 5.5 percent, the author of the study, Dan Bamberger, wrote in a newsletter seen by Curbed.

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In 2008, there were 174 listings for units in elevator buildings in Manhattan with “PH” in the number, according to data compiled by StreetEasy for The Real Deal. By 2011 that number grew to 256, a 47 percent increase. As of September, 112 units dubbed “PH” have been listed.  [Curbed] –  Hiten Samtani