Elliman dominates NYC brokerages in Midtown

Douglas Elliman came in a close second in The Real Deal’s recent citywide brokerage ranking, but the firm was the clear winner in Midtown, scooping 27 percent of sales volume there in 2022.

Howard Lorber’s firm closed 537 deals last year in the area stretching roughly from 60th Street to 30th Street from river to river, totallng $1.36 billion in volume. Its nearest rival, The Corcoran Group, did just 332 deals there for a total volume of about $932 million.

To measure brokerages’ success in selling homes in the Midtown area, TRD drilled down into the dataset of 58,000 deals from 2022 from our recent citywide brokerage ranking, looking specifically at sales in the area. 

Midtown comprises 12 neighborhoods, ranging from Times Square North and the Plaza District — home to Billionaires Row — to tiny Fifth Mad straddling the shopping strip for seven blocks from 46th Street up to 53rd Street. The other neighborhoods included are the Garment District, Penn Plaza, Turtle Bay, Grand Central, Times Square, Hell’s Kitchen, Sixth Avenue, Park Avenue and Sutton Place.

Compass ranked a distant third in Midtown with just $489 million in volume across 354 deals, followed by Brown Harris Stevens with 230 deals totaling $325 million. Sotheby’s International Realty rounded out the top five with $131 million across 80 deals. 

They didn’t break the top five, but the next two firms in the ranking are remarkable as well. Ryan Serhant’s eponymous firm took the No. 6 spot with $79 million in volume across 23 deals, yielding an average price of $3.45 million — the highest of any firm that did a significant number of deals in Midtown.

The only firm with a higher average price was No. 7-ranked Official — a company founded just last June by former Douglas Elliman stars Oren and Tal Alexander and backed by white-label brokerage Side. The fledgling firm made Midtown’s top 10 on the back of just three deals, including two massive Plaza District sales: a $25.5 million deal at 111 West 57th Street and a $11.5 million deal at 157 West 57th Street.

Unsurprisingly, Times Square North and the Plaza District — the neighborhoods encompassing Billionaires’ Row — accounted for the highest volumes in the Midtown area with $1.19 billion and $919 million, respectively. 

Less than 18 percent of the 2,323 deals closed in Midtown last year were sponsor sales. More than 48 percent were co-ops.

For inquiries about how to obtain the underlying data set referenced in this story, email research@therealdeal.com

This is one of the hundreds of data sets available on TRD Pro — the one-stop real estate terminal for all the data and market information you need.