Luxury home buyers in New York City are thinking twice before scooping up a multimillion-dollar property.
The Big Apple’s trophy home market has long been resilient, but Manhattan’s is being described as “one area of weakness,” according to the Olshan Luxury Market Report.
The trophy market includes properties that are listed at $10 million-plus. In the past four weeks, 12 contracts were signed for properties at that price point. That’s the lowest April level since 2017, when 11 were signed.
Other parts of the Manhattan luxury market are also seeing a slight dip. Despite a strong week of contract signings over the Easter holiday, there was a slight dip in contract signings in the last week of April. Only 28 contracts in the $4 million-plus range were signed in Manhattan.
Still, overall, 113 contracts were signed at $4million-plus in New York City. The average asking price was $7,542,857.
“The reason for the decline in trophy sales is linked to the wild swings in the stock market,” Donna Olshan, president and real estate broker at Olshan Realty, tells Realtor.com®. “At the end of April, the S&P 500 was down 5.3%, but the financial markets looked much worse earlier in the month.”
Despite the slight dip in April, Olshan adds, “The year-to-date trophy market numbers are fine for 2025.”
Top of the class
The No. 1 contract signed for the last full week of April was 16 East 64th Street, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. It had an asking price of $25 million and was listed in March 2024. It’s now under contract—no word on the accepted price yet.
The townhome is 8,700 square feet and six stories high. It includes five bedrooms, seven bathrooms, two power rooms, a gym, and, of course, an elevator. The home has a marble staircase, garden, and two terraces offering privacy right in the heart of the Big Apple.
The seller originally paid $21.5 million in August 2005 and did a renovation of the property. The annual real estate taxes are $137,643.
Manhattan market
In April 2025, 450 homes were for sale in the $10 million-plus price range—making up the “trophy market,” according to data from our Realtor.com economists.
There were also 775 listings priced between $5 million and $10 million in April, which spent a median of 82 days on the market. Additionally, there were 3,789 listings on the market priced between $1 million and $5 million in April, which spent a median of 59 days on the market.
“Widespread economic uncertainty and stock market tumult may be to blame for a slowing ultraluxury market. Buyers looking to purchase a ‘trophy’ home may be taking a wait-and-see approach instead of jumping into the market,” explains Hannah Jones, senior economic research analyst at Realtor.com. “Homes at this price point must wait for a very specific buyer, which could take months.”
Jones points out that, despite the high price of homes in New York City, the typical home spends just four more days on the market than the national norm.
“High demand for properties in Manhattan keeps the market pace quick and home prices elevated,” says Jones.
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