Walker Tower pad to sell at loss as Manhattan luxury market hits 7-month low

The number of contracts signed for Manhattan luxury homes last week was the lowest since late January. To add insult to injury, one of them, for a condo at Walker Tower, presages a roughly $2 million loss for the seller.

Buyers and sellers hammered out 21 deals for properties asking more than $4 million, according to Olshan Realty’s weekly report. It marked the lowest total since 14 were signed during the third week of January.

But Donna Olshan, the report’s author, called it a “decent performance” for the middle of the summer, which is usually a slow time for the luxury market.

A three-bedroom penthouse at 90 Morton Street had the highest asking price, $18 million, among last week’s agreements. The 3,678-square-foot condo also has a 610-square-foot terrace. The seller had paid $12.6 million for the unit two years ago. The buyer is from New York, according to Olshan’s report.

The second priciest was a condo at Walker Tower. Unit 10D was last asking $14.9 million. The three-bedroom condo spans 3,199 square feet and has a sprawling 1,026-square-foot terrace. The seller paid $16.9 million in January 2017, around the peak of the luxury market, and was asking only $14.9 million when it went into contract last week.

The Chelsea building has seen two high-profile units resell at a loss recently. Last month, Warburg Pincus bigwig David Krieger and Hamptons socialite Devorah Rose sold their lavish spread at the building at a $2 million loss. Late last summer, the Justice Department sold off a penthouse linked to Malaysia’s 1MDB scandal at a deep $33 million discount, despite the condo board’s attempt to block the sale, which it saw as devaluing other units.

“We’re just going to have to see over time how this building holds up,” said Olshan. “At the time it sold, they were extraordinary numbers. … We thought the finished work was the greatest thing since sliced bread.”

Of the 21 deals reached last week, 15 were for condos, four were for townhouses and the remaining two were co-ops. The median asking price was $6.58 million and the average discount from the original to the final asking price was 4 percent.