Manhattan’s luxury market charges through August

Manhattan luxury buyers seem to be skipping their summer break this August. 

Over the last four weeks, contract activity for luxury homes in the borough has outpaced the same period last year, up from 60 to 73, according to data from Olshan Realty. If buyers continue to ink deals at this pace, this month is slated to be the third best August in the last 10 years. 

The uptick in activity is likely due to a dip in mortgage rates, which are now at their lowest levels since last spring. Buyers signed contracts for 428 properties in Manhattan, across price points, in the first two weeks of August, marking an 18 percent annual increase, according to data from UrbanDigs. 

Between Aug. 19 and Aug. 25, 18 homes in Manhattan asking $4 million or more snagged inked deals, down from 20 in the previous week. The properties included 10 condos, six co-ops and two townhouses. 

Extell Development’s Central Park Tower is home to the priciest contract signed last week. Unit 39B entered contract last Monday and reportedly closed on Tuesday for $43.5 million, though the deal hasn’t yet landed in public records. 

The apartment asked $75 million when it was initially marketed off floor plans in 2018. The apartment has five bedrooms, five bathrooms and a 2,000-square-foot terrace. It also features views of Central Park from its living room, dining room and kitchen. 

Douglas Elliman’s Janice Change had the listing. 

The 7,600-square-foot condo is the latest discount at 217 West 57th Street, which has routinely fallen short of its once-projected sellout of $4 billion. In 2021, developer Gary Barnett amended his expectations to closer to $1 billion. 

Earlier this summer, the Billionaires’ Row supertall landed the first nine-figure deal in New York since 2022 when a penthouse closed for $115 million. The tower — advertised as the tallest residential building in the world — also once had the most expensive listing on the market, a triplex asking $250 million. Extell dropped the price to $195 million last year and pulled it off the market in July. 

The second most expensive home to enter contract was 12 East 79th Street, with an asking price of $36 million. The townhouse, which initially asked $38 million when it hit the market last May, spans 28 feet across and 16,000 square feet and has eight bedrooms and 10 bathrooms, according to the listing.

Built in 1910, the Upper East Side mansion has been owned by the School of Practical Philosophy since 1975. It hit the market in February after a December deal for the property fell through. 

Douglas Elliman’s Sandra Ripert and Patricia Vance had the listing. 

The combined asking price for the 18 homes was $264 million, which works out to an average price of $14.6 million and a median of $7.5 million. The typical home spent 803 days on the market and received a 19 percent discount.

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