432 Park Ave. Tops List of Most Expensive Sales for Second Week in a Row

Another week, another pricey 432 Park Ave. signing.

Of the 18 properties worth $4 million or above that changed hands in Manhattan last week, the tallest residential building in the western hemisphere topped the list of most expensive sales for the second week in a row and the fifth time this year.

This time the prize went to apartment 18A, which has 4,082 square feet of space and three bedrooms and was sold for $18.5 million, according to Olshan Realty’s latest health check of Manhattan’s luxury housing market. But this was nowhere near the building’s most expensive sale to date — at $95 million.

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The new 96-story building, designed by Uruguayan starchitect Rafael Vinoly, is 1,396 feet tall and can be seen from almost anywhere in the five boroughs. Amenities include a fitness center, a 75-foot swimming pool, private dining, parking, a garden, and a children’s playroom.

Olshan also noted that six of the 18 contracts from last week were in 1 Great Jones Alley, a new condo that went on the market in January and reported all of its signed contracts in one fell swoop. The 12-story building has 16 units, and amenities include a doorman, fitness center, and a spa with thermal baths and a plunge pool.

While the 18 contracts signed in the week of July 4th were lower than 24 in the prior week, Olshan stressed that the reason was not bad performance, but rather a holiday week.

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“Eighteen contracts were signed in Manhattan last week at $4 million and above, a solid number when you consider the following: The week was shortened by the July 4 celebration, which fell on a Monday, and many of the celebrants took the rest of the week off,” said Donna Olshan, president of Olshan.

This followed a report by appraisal firm Miller Samuel on behalf of Douglas Elliman Real Estate, which showed that Manhattan’s luxury sales prices hit a fresh record of $8.3 million in the second quarter of the year, despite recent evidence of a slowdown at the top end of the housing market.

Much of the boost was due to luxury sales that had been in contract the last 12 to 18 months in some of Manhattan’s most expensive new buildings. These pending sales closed in the second quarter, pushing average prices to a new high.

More recently, there has been anecdotal evidence of a cooldown in the luxury condo market against a backdrop of an oversupply on the market and waning demand from nervous investors amid global economic uncertainty and the U.S. presidential election.

The number of contracts signed at $4 million and above in Manhattan

Source: Olshan