New York City Luxury Home Sales Nearly Double in a Week, Reaching $144 Million

The Manhattan luxury market is alive and well, bouncing back from a slow week to hit 21 sales totaling $144,474,000.

Twenty-one properties with a median list price of $6 million went under contract for the third week of September, 10 more than the previous week.

Most homes (15) were condos, with five co-ops and one lone townhouse.

What sold and for how much

The most expensive property by far was Unit 5B at 70 Vestry Street in the heart of Tribeca, with an asking price of $22,500,000 ($6,940 per square foot). Only on the market for 19 days, the unit's sale is pending, so final price isn't available.

Jared Schwadron of Compass had the listing.

With four bedrooms, this 3,242-square-foot loft comes with a coveted parking space and "breathtaking, unobstructed views over the Hudson River," according to the listing.

Then there's the chef's kitchen with Miele appliances and Bardiglio Luco marble countertops, the primary bedroom with an en-suite spa-like bathroom, three more bedrooms with their own en-suite bathrooms, wet bar, and guest powder room.

The building, one of the most sought after in Tribeca, boasts plenty of amenities, and the monthly $7,927 HOA includes a full-time concierge and doorman, an 8,000-square-foot health and wellness suite with an 82-foot swimming pool, a separate children's pool, a squash court, fitness club, and yoga and pilates studios.

It changed hands only two years ago for $16 million.

The second priciest sale was a 124-year-old townhome at 80 Horatio Street. With eight bedrooms and eight bathrooms, the home hadn't been on the market for 50 years, but once it hit, it went fast, in a mere 12 days.

Despite the estate sale townhome being listed as owner-occupied (but delivered vacant) and requiring a gut reno, the property was uber-hot with at least six bidders, according to Olshan Realty.

Sources close to the deal told the agency that it closed for $10 million to $12 million, well over the $9 million list price.

Why the frenzy? The prime West Village location, the generous 25-feet-wide proportions, and the large, if a bit wild, backyard.

"It's very rare to find this width," says listing agent Amy Herman of Brown Harris Stevens, who spoke to Realtor.com®. "And it sounds cliche, but location, location, location. God bless this little street. I wish I had another listing just like it."

The third priciest listing was an $8,995,000 condo at 495 West End Avenue, snapped up after only 17 days on the market.

This five-bedroom, 4.5-bathroom CetraRuddy-designed 1912 prewar came with a 24-hour attended lobby, gym, laundry and play rooms, storage bins, and bicycle storage.

And West End Avenue is a prime location.

Olshan says over half of luxe buyers are all-cash and most have more than one home.

They also prefer condos to co-ops, where the barrier to entry is lower, the construction generally newer, and the amenities more plentiful.

Autumn in the Big Apple

While 21 sales, each over $4 million, is decent business, it is actually slower than it was the same time last year, which had 27 sales for a total volume of $275,677,200.

Olshan Realty founder Donna Olshan tells Realtor.com that September is generally the slowest time of the year.

"People are coming back from vacation, it's Labor Day, the Jewish holidays, people are ramping up for work," she says. "September is always a wild card."

She says the market picks up in October, slows down again around Thanksgiving, then picks up again the second week of January.

"Then it goes to the races until June," she says. "It's very seasonal."

In August, NYC home prices fell slightly from the month before, with a median listing price of $1,440,000, according to Realtor.com data.

The Mamdani effect

With liberal Democrat Zohran Mamdani in the lead to take the mayoral election come November, there's been headlines of the ultra-wealthy prepping to flee the city for lower-taxed pastures.

But Olshan isn't seeing it.

"If you are thinking about moving or retiring to Florida and Texas, and you're concerned about the mayoral election, maybe that will tip you over to leave," she says.

"But most people have jobs, children in school, and family and friends here. They are very tied in. The notion that they will move because they don't like the next mayor is ridiculous."

Despite the current political turmoil and crackdown on H-1B visas for skilled foreign workers, Olshan is still seeing plenty of international buyers.

While historically high prices and stubborn 6% to 7% mortgage interest rates have slowed buying down in much of the country, it hasn't stopped the wealthy from snapping up trophy homes.

"The luxury market is stable," she says. "The rich have gotten really rich in recent years."

Never mind headlines of elite New Yorkers trading in the city for the sunny shores of Miami and Palm Beach; Olshan says they still want a bite of the Big Apple.

"It's the greatest city in the world."