Luxury deals plummet in Manhattan — again

Dismal week follows strongest week since shutdown

111 Leroy Street and 817 Fifth Avenue (StreetEasy, Google Maps)
111 Leroy Street and 817 Fifth Avenue (StreetEasy, Google Maps)

One week, Manhattan is showing signs of a revival, with the highest number of luxury deals since the shutdown. The next week? Just three deals — tying for the lowest.

The contrast underscores the volatility the pandemic has created in an already soft market, as buyers flee to the suburbs and developers navigate price cuts, concessions and pressure from lenders.

“I think it’s hit and miss,” said Donna Olshan, who documents luxury sales in a weekly market report. “I think that’s what we’re going to be looking at for a while.”

“The market is in chaos. Making assumptions is not what you can do.”

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The priciest deal was a full-floor unit at 817 Fifth Avenue, asking $10.9 million — down from $13.9 million when it was listed last June.

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Daniella Schlisser of Brown Harris Stevens, who represented the seller, told Olshan the asking price was lowered this July from $12.5 million. The 3,450 square-foot condo has four bedrooms, four bathrooms and a fireplace in the living room.

The buyers were overseas and viewed the property by FaceTime, and later flew to New York to view the apartment before they signed the contract, Schlisser said. The broker added that a higher bid came in after the deal was reached, but the seller chose to stick with the original buyers.

The second-most-expensive deal last week was for unit 6 at 111 Leroy Street. The 3,370-square-foot, four-bedroom unit had a final asking price of $9.7 million.

Listing agent Andrew Anderson of Douglas Elliman said the parties had negotiated a deal before Covid hit, but that the buyer then “took a break to see how things were going to shake out.”

He added: “One we re-opened, the buyer renegotiated, and it took a while to get to a place everyone was happy with.”

Write to Sylvia Varnham O’Regan at so@therealdeal.com