Manhattan's Newest, Richest Condos Are Selling The Slowest

New York's richest may finally be losing their appetite for the newest, most expensive condos that Manhattan has to offer.

Condo sale volume and average price remained flat from 2016 to 2017 after years of growth, but units in new construction saw a 13% drop year-over-year, according to a CityRealty study as reported by The Real Deal. Condos priced above $10M experienced a 19% overall drop in sales volume, though the average price increased from $18M to $20M.

Years of building ambitious condos at dizzying heights, in terms of both construction and pricing, may finally be catching up to the high end of the market, as Extell Development's One57 has had to drop prices on available units and even saw Billionaire's Row's first foreclosure.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, no developer has taken a bigger hit than The Trump Organization, which saw prices at 11 of its properties drop below Manhattan's average for the first time. Trump International prices dropped the most steeply at 27%.

It is not all doom and gloom for Billionaire's Row, however. The tallest residential building in the world, 432 Park, had the highest average sales price of any condo building in the city at $25.7M, despite offering discounts earlier in the year. Its 15 units sold averaged $5,626/SF, which was second to 15 Central Park West, where six condos sold for an average of $7,350/SF. 432 Park also contained the most expensive condo sold in the city this year as of Nov. 30, at $65M.

For those who have been following, the fact that 56 Leonard in Tribeca led Manhattan in terms of sales volume with 65 units sold should come as no surprise. The building's average sales price of $9.8M could give a clue to where the future of the Manhattan market lies.

With Manhattan's sales growth finally stopping this year, CityRealty expects condo prices to fall in 2018 for the first time since the recession.