Metro

The rent is too damn high? Nah!

Only in New York is $25,000-a- month rent considered a “deal.”

Yet empty-nesters Mindy and Steve Klein think that’s a good price for the 2,034-square-foot, three-bedroom apartment they rent at 55 Thompson St., a luxury 38-unit building.

For the past six months, the sky has been the limit, literally, from their pricey perch with a bird’s-eye view of the Empire State building. Annual price for this vista: $300,000.

The Klein’s apartment would sell for about $7 million to $10 million, developer Manhattan Skyline said. But the couple is in no rush to invest in a condo or a co-op after scouring the buyer-friendly market last year.

“You could take the money you would spend buying the place, invest it, get a great return, and then you’d still have the principal,” said Steve Klein, president and CEO of Burlen, a company that specializes in lingerie and children’s undergarments.

“It doesn’t seem like it would be easy to sell,” he added. “Condos like this sit on the market for months on end and if they sell, they sell for big discounts.”

Many of the city’s richest residents are following suit. The number of new leases in the top 1 percent of the market — units renting at more than $15,000 per month — increased 148 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010 compared to the same period in 2009, according to a Miller Samuels study.

And the number of new leases in the top 10 percent of the market, which rent at more than $7,000 per month, increased by 25 percent in the second half of last year, according to data released by CitiHabitats.

“All of our new developments that we’ve brought to market have leased out at fast paces and great prices, and it’s because people are willing to pay more money to live in an upscale apartment,” said Gary Malin, president of CitiHabitats.

Real-estate analyst Jonathan Miller, president of Miller Samuel, believes that more high-end rental units on the market combined with steadily rising luxury-condo prices and an uncertain housing market are enticing wealthy clients to lease rather than buy.

“People who bought at the top of the market, and weren’t happy where the market was, have been renting those units,” said Miller.

The Kleins, both 51, waved bye-bye to their last college-bound kid last year. Tired of the suburban grind in Laurel Hollow, LI, they decided a new pad in Manhattan would be just the ticket.

With a few personal touches — including a 20-foot wet bar — it is now home sweet home.

“I want to stay here forever!” Mindy Klein said. “We may never leave.”

Additional reporting by Melissa Klein