Bigger Is Better
“The one result of the pandemic,” Olshan says, “is that everyone bought larger spaces.”
Everyone’s house was fine until it was no longer just a home. Suddenly, it was also an office and a school, which meant that “people wanted bigger, no matter what the price range,” she continues.
Leaving out 2 East 88th St., a co-op that doesn’t officially list its square footage—news reports pegged it at 7,000 square feet—the average square footage of the top apartments was just over 13,370 square feet.
The largest townhouse—9 East 71st St.—covers a massive 28,000 square feet. The largest condo, at 1165 Madison Ave., spans 13,000 square feet. “For rich people,” Olshan says, “there’s no such thing as being too rich, or too thin, or having too many rooms.”
The Sky’s Not Quite the Limit
For all the lofty prices of the Top 10 sales, several of the listings had to take significant price cuts before they sold.
The biggest price cut was reserved for a condo in the troubled Central Park Tower on West 57th Street, which initially carried a price tag of $95 million. (It’s No. 9 on the top 10 list.) The price was slashed 47% before it sold for $50 million, or $6,265 a square foot.
Epstein’s former house had a similar price trajectory: It sank from an ask of $88 million to one of $65 million. Its final price, at $51 million, was the bargain of the group, making the price per square foot a mere $1,821.
Twelve East 69th St. was also initially listed for $88 million, so its final price of $59 million represents a cut of nearly 38%.
“It’s aspirational pricing—fantasy pricing,” Olshan says. “But they’re still great numbers.”
They’re also numbers that Olshan predicts will continue to grow.
“If the stock market doesn’t blow out, or a variant doesn’t come and kill us, the demand will be there,” she says. “I think we’re OK for the first quarter of 2022. Beyond that, I don’t know.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.