Lenox Hill townhouse tops Manhattan luxury market

New York City’s luxury townhouses take regular turns atop signed contracts, but the property type has been absent from the lead in Manhattan’s luxury market — until last week

The most expensive contract of the week was for 138 East 65th Street, according to Olshan Realty’s weekly report of homes in the borough asking $4 million or more. The 5,400-square-foot home in Lenox Hill asked just under $17 million.

The five-story house has five bedrooms and six bathrooms. Along with an elevator, the home has two terraces a garden and distinctive copper-clad windows on its facade. Last bought for $10 million in 2012, the home was renovated before initially hitting the market in December 2021 asking $22 million.

The second most expensive contract last week was for unit 48A at 53 West 53rd Street, with an asking price of $15.3 million, down from $18.2 million in 2015 when the building started marketing off floorplans. 

The 3,800-square-foot condo has four bedrooms, 4.5 bathrooms and a study. It has 11-foot ceilings, a nearly 600-square-foot living room, and offers city views to the north and east. Amenities at the building, designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Jean Nouvel, include a 65-foot lap pool, golf simulator, wine room, theater and library.

Of the 28 homes to enter contract last week, 21 were condos, five were co-ops and two were townhouses. 

The homes combined for $208.6 million in volume and had an average price of $7.4 million and a median asking price just under $6 million. The typical home was discounted five percent and spent an average of 744 days on the market.

Manhattan’s housing market could be in store for a big spring, according to a recent report by Miller Samuel for Douglas Elliman. Growth in new listings and new contracts across property types amounted to a trend report author Jonathan Miller called “beyond seasonal.”