Market Forces Favor Affordable Luxury in New York for 2015-2016

 Kathy Sloane enjoys a great deal of success in the luxury real estate market, where she often represents entertainment industry celebrities and prominent politicians.

An abnormally large buyer pool brought interesting changes to the New York market at the end of 2015. An influx of willing buyers in the one to three-million-dollar range meant smooth sailing for sellers at that price point, but left many would-be buyers empty handed.

The shift in market forces presented a unique opportunity for high-end realty professionals. Agents like Kathy Sloane, who traditionally deal in properties worth tens of millions, saw opportunities to diversify and explore the exploding market for one million dollar apartments.

Open houses brought in 35 or more prospective buyers, and many properties received two or three offers on their first day on the market. Just as encouraging, approximately 40 percent of buyers in the $600,000 to $1 million range paid over the asking price. These recent trends in the affordable luxury market continue to provide ample opportunities for sellers and brokers alike. 

The Sherry-Netherland Penthouse is Back on the Market - $78 Million

In early 2015, Real Estate Agent Kathy Sloane made headlines for selling a penthouse at Fifth Avenue's famed Sherry-Netherland for just shy of $70 million. For the first time, the co-op board permitted a purchase by a foreign buyer, allowing a Chinese buyer to take ownership of the lavish apartment. In October of the same year, Kathy Sloane and Brown Harris Stevens Real Estate placed the property back on the market, this time for a record $86 million, or $9,500 per square foot.

The seller reduced the price to $78 million in June of 2016, reflecting his serious intentions to sell the property. This price point would still make the apartment the most expensive co-op ever sold, beating out the $77.5 million apartment currently owned by Ukrainian billionaire Leonard Blavatnik just up the street.

The penthouse features seven bedrooms, eight bathrooms, and 2,000 square feet of outdoor terrace space. At $78 million, this newly-reduced apartment works out to approximately $8,666 per square foot.

A Storied Maisonette at 447 East 57th Street Listed at $9.5 Million

Based in New York, Kathy Sloane is a prominent luxury real estate broker who has guided many of the city’s most high-profile transactions. With Brown Harris Stevens, Kathy Sloane recently listed a Sutton Place maisonette at 447 East 57th Street for $9.75 million on behalf of Tina Brown and Sir Harold Evans, both defining figures in the media world.

With the assistance of her employer Condé Nast, former New Yorker and Vanity Fair editor Brown and her husband acquired the storied triplex for between $3 million and $4 million in 1996. The property has been at the center of New York cultural life since, with its well-appointed garden serving as the setting of parties that have featured guests ranging from Bianca Jagger to Salman Rushdie.

The 6,000-square-foot apartment is situated within an aesthetically striking Rosario Candela co-op building than contains less than two dozen units. Taking up the first three floors of the building, the lavish four-bedroom triplex features amenities such as traditional fireplaces.

Luxury Manhattan Co-Op at 781 Fifth Avenue Listed for $78 million

Kathy Sloane is a New York luxury real estate broker who has achieved more than $1 billion in sales, including residences for the Clintons spanning Washington, DC, and Chappaqua, New York. In October 2015, Kathy Sloane engaged as broker with a Chinese real estate investor who had purchased a Sherry-Netherland penthouse at 781 Fifth Avenue for nearly $70 million the previous spring.

At its initial listing price of $86 million, the 9,000-square-foot, 18th-floor co-op, which was created by combining a number of smaller apartments over the years, would represent the most expensive co-op in the city by a wide margin. Encompassing eight bathrooms and seven bedrooms the apartment also includes 2,000 square feet of outdoor space.

In June 2016, the asking price was reduced to $78 million, which Mrs. Sloane characterized as a highly competitive price for a premier property that is accessible to qualified offshore buyers. The re-listing indicates the sellers’ seriousness in arriving at a sale, which would just set a record as New York’s priciest co-op transaction. The current mark for highest-value property purchase was set by Leonard Blavatnik, who paid $77.5 million to acquire an 834 Fifth Avenue duplex from Woody Johnson, owner of the New York Jets.