Luxury Market Leads NYC’s New Dev Market in Second Quarter

New York City’s new development market continues to be a tale of two markets.

Contracts signed for new condos in Manhattan asking $10 million or more nearly doubled in the second quarter from the same time last year to 38 from 21, marking the second consecutive period where the high-end market made up half of all deals signed in the city, according to Brown Harris Stevens Development Marketing.

The 56 contracts signed last quarter marked a record for any period this decade.

“The $10 million-plus market is having a banner year,” said BHSDM’s Robin Schneiderman, despite a number of factors that seem like they would muck up activity, including a pied-á-terre tax that went into effect on July 1, high mortgage rates and economic shocks from the war in Iran.

Not included in BHSDM’s tally was one of the top contracts signed all quarter, an $80 million deal signed in June at Zeckendorf Development and Atlas Capital Group’s 80 Clarkson. The notoriously quiet project in May finally released information on its first 22 contract signings, all of which were inked in 2025.

Overall, contract activity in the quarter fell 17 percent from last year to 311 and contract volume was $1.5 billion, slightly above the 10-year average of $1.4 billion for Manhattan.

Although average sale prices jumped in the quarter because of the shift towards luxury homes over the last year, average new development closing price-per-square-foot was up only slightly to $2,131 from $2,053 during the second quarter of last year.

If they build it, it will sell

Analysts have cited the city’s dwindling new development inventory as the main culprit behind a lackluster market in 2026.

The second quarter saw 112 new units launch, leacing supply at the end of the quarter at roughly 3,100 units, around three-fifths of what the average available inventory has been over the last decade.

Almost 40 percent of available units are concentrated in five buildings, four of which launched sales five or more years ago.

Despite the strong performance from the top end of the market, the best-selling buildings from the quarter still tended to be lower-priced projects.

Related Companies’ Strathmore development at 400 East 84th Street inked 38 contracts last quarter at an average asking price of over $1,700 per square foot, according to Marketproof. A Corcoran Sunshine team launched sales there in October.

According to a Serhant New Development report, months of remaining supply — a ratio of available units to contract signing — is near four months for units asking $3 million or less, an indication that the weak contract numbers for cheaper buildings are a function more of supply issues than weak demand.

“We need some new inventory to see what the state of the market is,” Schneiderman said, adding that when well-priced new condos enter the market they “get absorbed at a healthy pace.”

Slow time in Brooklyn

Brooklyn saw contract signings fall to 222 from 230, according to BHSDM.

But the borough saw buyers gravitate towards luxury offerings, pushing contract volume to rise in the quarter to $450 million from $391 million.

Supply expanded in the borough as the 331 new units launched in the quarter outpaced contracts signed.

Two Trees’ One Domino Square put 12 units into contract in the quarter, according to Marketproof. Along with Naftali Group and Access Industries’ Williamsburg Wharf, the projects on the Williamsburg waterfront have been major drivers of activity in the luxury new development market over the last year.

In June, a penthouse at One Domino Square scored a contract for a penthouse asking $7.8 million, which would be a sponsor sale record in the neighborhood if it closes at that price.

In Queens, contract signings were down by more than half to 40 in the quarter, according to Marketproof. The borough has seen deals dry up this year as buildings that launched sales in previous years, like Century Development Group’s Vesta and Rybak Development’s Austin have been some of the best-selling buildings in the borough.