Manhattan’s biggest luxury contracts last week topped $20M

Ultra-luxury market shows small gains, but volatility still the norm

432 Park Avenue and  25 Park Row (Getty; iStock; COOKFOX)
432 Park Avenue and  25 Park Row (Getty; iStock; COOKFOX)

The two priciest residential deals in Manhattan last week were for condo units asking more than $20 million. That’s a promising sign for the ultra-luxury sector, which has seen some of the biggest declines since the pandemic hit.

The deals were among 14 in total last week — three more than the week prior, and a significant jump on the weekly average of four during the lockdown, according to the latest market report from Olshan Realty.

But Donna Olshan, who authors the reports, said she was wary of inferring anything significant from a small bump, with market volatility still the status quo.

“It’s just another week in the pandemic,” she said. “A little stronger than the last week but we still have a long way to go before recovery.”

The most expensive deal last week was for a 8,088-square-foot unit at Macklowe Properties’ 432 Park Avenue.

The unit, which takes up the entire 34th floor of the supertall tower, is a white box that would need renovations, according to the report. It was last asking $28 million, or $3,462 per square foot. (The last 15 deals to close in the building averaged $6,217 per square foot, according to Olshan, but she said those units were finished and mostly on higher levels.)

Douglas Elliman broker Shari Scharfer Rollins, who represented the sponsor with Marc Palermo, told Olshan the buyers were from the U.S. “They saw it before Covid and then they started negotiating over the summer,” she said.

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The second-priciest deal was for a duplex penthouse at 25 Park Row, which was last asking $25 million.

The 5,956-square-foot apartment features five bedrooms, five and a half bathrooms and four terraces with a total of more than 1,000 square feet of space.

Richard Hicks of the Corcoran Group, who represented the sponsor, said the buyers were a family who planned to live at the home and were drawn to its views.

Across all the deals, the average discount between original and last asking price was just 4 percent — a figure Olshan said was unusual.

“We’ve been averaging in the 13 percent range since the pandemic,” she noted.

The average number of days on the market was 505.