Manhattan luxury brokers had cause to give thanks last week.
Buyers signed contracts for 14 properties asking at least $4 million during the traditionally slow Thanksgiving period. The prior week had 25 such deals — the most since early March — but the holiday week’s total was above the 10-year Thanksgiving-week average of 12 deals, according to the latest market report from Olshan Realty.
“I thought [the number] was decent,” said report author Donna Olshan, who tracks luxury sales. “But, look, it’s a week-by-week thing and I would absolutely not call anything a trend.”
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The most expensive home to go into contract last week was a full-floor co-op at 781 Fifth Avenue asking $22 million.
The 9,000-square-foot unit has five bedrooms, six and a half bathrooms and a library. The building, named Sherry Netherland, also operates as a hotel, and residents are treated to twice-a-day maid service and other perks.
Listing broker Sabrina Saltiel of Douglas Elliman said the buyers were a local family who looked at the property three or four times before making a decision.
“This has the space of a townhouse on one floor,” she told Olshan. “It has great light and it’s in beautiful condition.”
The second-priciest deal was an 8,500-square-foot townhouse at 111 Waverly Place with a price tag of $19.495 million.
The home features six bedrooms, eight bathrooms and nine fireplaces. The sellers purchased what was then a multi-unit building for $5.6 million in 2005 and transformed it into a single-family home.
Michael Biryla of Compass, who represented the buyers, told Olshan his clients were New Yorkers who initially looked at buying a penthouse but shifted their attention to townhouses.
“It came down to privacy and square footage,” Biryla told Olshan. “We scoured the market for 25-footers with at least 7,000 to 8,000 square feet, and we saw off-market and on-market properties. But this house checked all the boxes.”
Listing broker Christopher Riccio, of boutique brokerage Leslie J. Garfield, said three buyers were interested in the property, and the negotiations took a couple of weeks.
“Given all the interest we had, we felt as though Michael’s buyer showed enough good faith that we wanted to get a contract out and not play the waiting game,” he said.