The New York City real estate market has entered the fall season with renewed momentum. Sentiment among buyers and sellers remains cautiously optimistic, despite ongoing political headwinds.
In a market trends article published early last month, The Real Deal, the leading real estate trade publication in the country, reported that luxury properties have experienced a markup, citing an industry expert as saying, “The appetite for luxury property seems almost unabated.”
Activity was especially strong at the very top end of the market, with the median price now exceeding $6.5 million, representing a nearly 18% increase from last year. Almost 70% of those transactions were all-cash deals. Global and domestic demand for ultra-luxury trophy properties remains strong, highlighted by several significant Downtown transactions, including a record-setting $87 million penthouse property at 140 Jane Street that recently went under contract in the dead of summer.
So, let’s talk luxury! Technically, I consider the luxury real estate market to be anything over $4 million, but ultra luxury is a somewhat arbitrary designation – stratospheric! Think: 150 Charles Street’s penthouse unit that sold earlier in the year for a whopping $60 million, and 80 Clarkson, a duplex penthouse that went into contract for $87.5 million, to name a couple of recent uber-luxury deals.
When the Olshun’s NYC Luxury Market Report indicated that there had been just 10 deals over $10 million in the first quarter of 2025, I realized that my team had completed six of those 10 deals — a truly eye-opening realization about what we had accomplished so swiftly!
There’s no doubt momentum has been accelerating: There were more $30 million-plus home sales below 34th Street in the past five years than in the previous decade!
According to Olshun’s Report from early September, 16 contracts were signed in Manhattan at or above $4 million. Condos outsold co-ops by an 11-to-3 margin. These totals are in line with the 10-year average of 16.5 contracts for the week preceding Labor Day. It was the fourth-best August, with 92 contracts signed since 2006.
Another 15 contracts over $4 million closed just the following week, including the top sale at 111 West 57th Street for $22 million.
Typically, this market is an untouchable demographic — one that has means well beyond any person‘s grasp of luxury, comprised of wealthy entrepreneurs or CEOs of thriving (oftentimes, start-up) companies.
My advice to those with such substantial buying power is to purchase when nobody else is doing so, and to buy something that will hold value in a premium neighborhood. And I encourage sellers of luxury properties this season to be strategic about how you position the property, irrespective of the market climate. ‘Read the room’ in terms of how things are being absorbed and accepted, and how to best structure the sale by underpricing to drive bidding or put fat on the deal with room for movement.
Always keep in mind that strong properties will command strong prices if they are turnkey and rare in location and availability. As temperatures dip, and if interest rates come down as projected, product and negotiation abilities will be reduced. That’s especially true in these Make-A buildings, where there’s never a replicated product type.
Case in point: 800 Fifth Avenue, a luxury residential rental tower, sold to Miki Naftali for $810 million, according to the New York Post.
“That is record pricing for a building of its size — 33 stories,” an industry source said of 800 Fifth Avenue. “And it’s also perhaps the best Manhattan location for a super high-end condo development. Really, can you beat Fifth Avenue and East 61st Street?”
Naftali plans to demolish the building for a sexy new condo tower. “We’re thrilled that after fifty years as the best rental building in the city, 800 Fifth will be transformed in the next incarnation to the best new condominium,” he said in a statement.
In my estimation, the new units will come to market between $10,000 and $11,000 per square foot.
Meanwhile, The Real Deal recently reported that the luxury market was slowing down, pointing to a condo at 111 Murray Street that sold for $9.2 million, down from the original $9.5 million asking price in February. The mid-September Olshun’s Report showed that the top 10 deals were all under $10 million, a rare occurrence in Manhattan.
Still, The Real Deal reported that the homes on the Top Ten list for that week had a combined asking price of $70 million, for an average price of $6.4 million and a median of $5.4 million. That’s well within the luxury market price point.
So, while every week may not break records, the overall bigger picture suggests that global capital confidence continues to reinforce the idea of New York City as a reliable haven for wealth and a long-term store of value.
