Sales of $10 million-plus Manhattan apartments have jumped an eye-popping 75 percent in the past year.
Twenty-eight apartments above $10 million closed in the third quarter of 2013, far more than the 16 that closed during the same quarter last year, according to a new market report.
“It’s a feeding frenzy at the high end,” said Diane Ramirez, CEO of Halstead, the agency that prepared the report.
The buyers aren’t just rich Chinese, Russian and Middle Easterners parking cash in a safe environment. They are also wealthy New Yorkers buying dream digs, Halstead’s Jim Gricar claimed.
While inventory dropped by one-quarter across the board, total transactions were up 16 percent, to 3,240, during the same period, another sign of a booming market.
At the ultra high-end, most of the sales were all cash deals.
Top sales included Houston Rockets owner Leslie Alexander’s $42 million penthouse at 18 Gramercy Park, as the Post first reported.
Co-ops made up 40 per cent of the sales this quarter, in part because the new “billionaire” buildings, like 157 W. 57th and 432 Park Ave., have yet to close.
The average apartment sale price rose to $1.45 million, 8 percent higher than at this time last year, while the median sale price rose 3 percent over last year to $870,000.