Manhattan’s luxury market kept busy this Christmas, with two pre-war homes each asking $25 million claiming top billing.
Buyers signed 26 contracts last week, marking the second-busiest Christmas week in the last decade behind last year’s boom of 42, according to Olshan Realty’s weekly report on residences asking $4 million or more. The peak in activity came as the average discount from last asking price was 20 percent, which report author Donna Olshan said was a bellwether for sellers looking to move units.
“Those people willing to meet the market are going to sell,” Olshan said. “Trying to get sellers to face the music will be a challenge in the first quarter.”
The priciest contract was for a duplex apartment on floors nine and ten at 1040 Fifth Avenue, which initially asked $32 million when it hit the market in April 2021.
The 14-room co-op unit includes four bedrooms and six-and-half bathrooms. The apartment needs a complete renovation and the co-op board does not accept mortgage financing.
The 146,000-square-foot building, designed by Rosario Candela, has just 27 apartments across 17 floors.
Sharing the title for priciest was a 4,875-square-foot townhouse at 252 West 12th Street in the West Village. The recently renovated property is 21 feet wide and has five bedrooms, four-and-a-half bathrooms, multiple balconies and a roof terrace.
The home belonged to oil heiress Aileen Getty before the current seller bought the property for $19 million in 2019. Carl Gambino, a broker with a track record of celebrity deals who moved his New York City office to Compass earlier this year, represented the seller.
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A third contract, for unit 8501 at 35 Hudson Yards, was the second priciest last week. The 4,621-square-foot condo was last asking $16.5 million, down from the $27.5 million when it was marketed in 2019 based on floorplans.
Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group is handling sales at the The Related Companies’ building, which has 143 residential units across 92 stories.
Some 15 of the 26 luxury contracts signed last week were for condos, while eight were co-ops and three were townhouses.