Triumphs and troubles: How did NYC’s ultraluxury resi market fare in 2025?

New York City notched more ultraluxury home sales so far this year — but they were far less expensive than last year.

Since the start of 2025, the Big Apple saw 240 residential deals valued at $10 million and higher close, almost 15 percent more than last year, according to an analysis of recorded deeds by The Real Deal.

However, the median sale price of these transactions was $14.4 million, a 10 percent plunge compared to the year before. That was also the second-biggest drop for the price tier over the past decade; the steepest was in 2021, when the inflation-adjusted median sale price tanked by 13 percent year over year.

The median price per square foot of this year’s high-end deals came in at $3,649 — a 5 percent dip from 2024. That was the greatest drop since 2022. However, the ultra-luxury market, where deals and comps are scarce, has seen this figure, when adjusted for inflation, fall almost every year.

In general, the Big Apple’s broader luxury market has had a strong year, even amid concerns over tariff policies, general economic uncertainties and a dwindling supply of newly developed condos. The priciest sale in 2025 was at Vornado Realty Trust’s 220 Central Park South, where a 45th-floor condo traded for $82.5 million.

Ninety-eight percent of the 2,567 deals analyzed by The Real Deal were in Manhattan; the rest were in Brooklyn. The analysis included storage units in the square-footage totals, excluded 436 residences where their sizes could not be determined, and adjusted the sale prices for inflation.

The city’s luxury corridors, including the Upper East and West Sides, Midtown, Downtown and Brooklyn, recorded drops in the median price for ultra-luxury residences from 2024 to 2025. 

However, the Upper East Side recorded the steepest decrease in its median sale price for homes valued over $10 million, of nearly 23 percent year over year. The median for the region came in at $13.6 million, the lowest in a decade. Despite this drop, the area’s median price per square foot rose year over year, climbing by almost 9 percent to $3,270 this year.

Brooklyn’s median price per square foot for this price tier also increased, by more than 29 percent, to $3,171.

Manhattan’s Downtown area was the only macro region where its number of $10 million-plus deals fell year over year. The region recorded 96 such transactions this year — the most in the city but down from 100 in 2024.

Finally, Midtown, home to Billionaires’ Row, ranked first with the highest price per square foot of $4,648 this year, down 6 percent from last year.