Park Avenue Co-ops, Once Blue-Chip, Are Now Also-Rans

June, as noted, was the dizziest, ritziest month in the history of New York City’s luxury real-estate market, as high-end buyers opened their checkbooks to beat the July 1 arrival of a “mansion tax” and increased transfer taxes. More than 600 homes traded for over $2 million during the month, the priciest being the $80 million Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos paid for three apartments, including a penthouse, at 212 Fifth Avenue near Madison Square Park. 

Based on an analysis of the top 25 transactions by The Real Deal, condominiums dominated the list, though townhouses accounted for a healthy one-third of the top sales. Here’s the surprising news: the biggest sales, all in Manhattan, were concentrated in Tribeca, Billionaires’ Row, and the Upper East Side – but Park Avenue co-ops, once the bluest chip of city real estate, did not account for a single one of the top 25 sales. 

“They are no longer the market leaders in the high-end space,” says appraiser Jonathan Miller, “as the past five years have seen them lose significant ground to condos.”