Within the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, New York Metropolis was hit first — and hardest. With the unfolding tragedy got here a flood of residents abruptly searching for properties outdoors town in addition to anxious whispers that town would possibly by no means return to its former glory. The impact on NYC’s actual property market was extreme: Within the second quarter of 2020, Manhattan gross sales fell 54.1 %, their steepest decline in 30 years, whereas costs dropped 17.7 %, in keeping with information from Douglas Elliman.
However by the previous couple of months of 2020, there was an upsurge in exercise, and demand has solely grown via 2021. “It’s nonetheless the best metropolis on this planet, and all people desires to be right here,” says Core NYC dealer Emily Beare. Houses priced over $10 million in Manhattan just lately had their finest gross sales week in eight years, and each gross sales quantity and costs proceed to spike. “New York Metropolis has a resiliency that plenty of different markets don’t have,” says Pamela D’Arc of Compass. “We’re seeing precisely what we noticed after different tragic occasions which have occurred within the metropolis, which is that individuals paused, after which the rebound was extraordinary.” Right here, The Hollywood Reporter highlights town’s high brokers who’re inking marquee offers and serving to A-list purchasers navigate the brisk, reinvigorated market. (Be aware: Shopper names which are included, until in any other case famous, had been all publicly reported transactions.)
Oren and Tal Alexander.
Courtesy of Topic/Mark Kopko; Courtesy of Topic
OREN AND TAL ALEXANDER
Douglas Elliman
When it got here time for hotelier André Balazs to promote his $10.3 million SoHo condo, he turned to Douglas Elliman’s Oren and Tal Alexander of The Alexander Crew. The pair are identified for breaking a number of SoHo value data and maintain listings in trophy buildings from 432 Park Ave. to 111 West 57th St. In 2021, New York Metropolis’s market “has been wild,” says Tal, “and I don’t see it slowing down anytime quickly.” In addition they are licensed in Florida, the place they’ve dealt with gross sales for Tommy Hilfiger and restaurateur Jeff Zalaznick (Carbone).
The Alexander Crew is representing this five-bedroom duplex, designed by Ken Fulk, at 151 Wooster Avenue in SoHo. It’s listed for $14.995 million.
Douglas Elliman
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Emily Beare, John Burger, and Carrie Chiang.
Courtesy of Topic (3)
EMILY BEARE
Core NYC
Core’s Emily Beare is constantly one among New York Metropolis’s high brokers, with greater than $4 billion in profession gross sales. She additionally has grow to be the dealer of alternative for designer Nate Berkus, whom she represented within the off-market sale of a $13.5 million West Village townhouse in August. Beare beforehand has labored with Diane Kruger and offered a SoHo property as soon as owned by Kanye West. She at the moment holds a $35 million itemizing at tony rental constructing 15 Central Park West. “There’s plenty of good patrons on the market and never sufficient stock,” says Beare. “Not a day goes by that I don’t get emails from brokers asking, ‘What do you could have for $20 or $30 million within the West Village?’”
Beare just lately closed on a residence, that includes terrace with breathtaking metropolis views, at Walker Tower on West 18th Avenue for $14.25 million.
Evan Joseph Studios
SERENA BOARDMAN
Sotheby’s Worldwide Realty
In her 20-year profession at Sotheby’s Worldwide Realty, Serena Boardman has offered greater than $4 billion value of property. In 2021, Boardman listed a $21.5 million Central Park West mansion belonging to Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones in addition to a $60 million Higher East Facet townhouse owned by billionaire Ron Perelman. Boardman just lately dealt with a $32 million penthouse itemizing for Broadway producer Terry Allen Kramer, in addition to a $17 million mansion listed by former Simon & Schuster head honcho Dick Snyder.
JOHN BURGER
Brown Harris Stevens
When Bette Midler unloaded her Higher East Facet penthouse for a cool $45 million and the Nasser household (who made their fortune in textile manufacturing) offered their Fifth Avenue co-op for $35 million this yr, Brown Harris Stevens’ John Burger was behind each offers. Burger additionally has repped Jeff Bezos on quite a few offers. His present listings embrace a $32.25 million Fifth Avenue condo that was the longtime residence of jeweler Harry Winston and a $60 million Higher East Facet duplex mentioned to be owned by Princess Firyal of Jordan. As for which areas of Manhattan are scorching, Burger says, “I feel there’s been a little bit of a renaissance for the Higher East Facet and Central Park West markets. Central Park is the crown jewel of New York, and folks have began to embrace it greater than ever. For many individuals it was their solely alternative to be outdoor and socially distanced throughout COVID.”
A view inside John Burger’s itemizing at 927 Fifth Avenue, a 14-bedroom, 5,500-square-foot co-op as soon as owned by jeweler Harry Winston.
Brown Harris Stevens
CARRIE CHIANG
Corcoran
Since beginning her profession in 1988, Corcoran’s Carrie Chiang has labored with bold-faced names together with Barbra Streisand, Jim Carrey, Sean Combs and Derek Jeter. She at the moment represents the $28 million 6 Sutton Sq. townhouse being offered by Yue-Sai Kan, often known as “the Oprah of China,” and is in contract for the $14.9 million sale of the China Institute constructing. Chiang additionally is not any stranger to eye-popping Billionaire’s Row listings and at the moment reps a $79 million penthouse at 432 Park Ave, in addition to $63.75 million unfold at Central Park Tower. “I focus totally on the Higher East Facet, and plenty of the folks I’m working with might need lived downtown or in New Jersey [before the pandemic], however now they need to be close to their youngsters’ personal faculties,” says Chiang.
A bed room at 6 Sutton Sq., owned by Yue-Sai Kan and listed with Corcoran’s Carrie Chiang for $28 million.
Courtesy of The Corcoran Group
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Pamela D’Arc, Danny Davis and Paula Del Nunzio.
Courtesy of Topic (3)
PAMELA D’ARC
Compass
A 28-year trade veteran, Pamela D’Arc moved to Compass in 2019 when the agency acquired Stribling and Associates and hit the bottom working. Over the course of the pandemic, D’Arc carried out offers for the likes of Jennifer Lawrence and the property of the late Alan Rickman and in 2021 has seen a rush of exercise from Los Angeles-based clientele. “I’ve so many L.A. individuals who have determined to maneuver to New York or transfer again to New York,” says D’Arc. This fall, she additionally helped former MTV Networks CEO and chairman Judy McGrath promote her Higher West Facet brownstone for $7.8 million.
Jennifer Lawrence offered this Higher East Facet penthouse in 2020 for $10 million. Compass’ Pamela D’Arc held the itemizing.
Compass
DANNY DAVIS
Corcoran
Like lots of New York Metropolis’s high luxurious brokers, Corcoran’s Danny Davis has fielded a higher-than-usual quantity of off-market offers for the reason that begin of the pandemic (see sidebar at finish of story), together with the sale of WeWork co-founder and CEO Adam Neumann’s West Village townhouse for $13.65 million in August. Davis additionally led the itemizing workforce behind the June sale of a $15 million Tribeca penthouse owned by director-producer Shawn Levy (and previously owned by Jon Stewart). Levy and his spouse had bought the property for $13 million simply two months prior, per public data. Davis is nearing $300 million in complete gross sales for 2021 and is at the moment repping a $12.5 million penthouse on the Clark Constructing in Tribeca. “I’m very optimistic and actually trying ahead to what’s going to occur with the overseas market,” says Davis. “I do know a handful of individuals all simply ready to fly again to New York and purchase property.”
Shawn Levy offered this two-story penthouse in June, listed with Corcoran’s Danny Davis.
Courtesy of The Corcoran Group
PAULA DEL NUNZIO
Brown Harris Stevens
Over the course of her 25-year profession, Brown Harris Stevens’ Paula Del Nunzio has developed a specialty for ultra-high-end townhouses, working with marquee names together with Jessica Chastain. Presently, she holds the itemizing for a $52 million Higher East Facet townhouse owned by the American Irish Historic Society in addition to a $14.5 million townhouse that Gwyneth Paltrow lived in as a baby that’s now in contract. Earlier this yr, she offered billionaire Vincent Viola’s 20,000-square-foot Higher East Facet mansion for a whopping $60 million. “The attention-grabbing factor in regards to the luxurious market is that it appears to prevail it doesn’t matter what else is occurring as a result of there are a sure quantity of people that will all the time need to be in New York,” says Del Nunzio. “They could have houses in lots of different locations and international locations, however they nonetheless all the time need one thing in New York.”
Listed with Brown Harris Stevens’ Paula Del Nunzio for $14.5 million, this seven-bedroom Higher East Facet townhouse is at the moment underneath contract.
Brown Harris Stevens
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Fredrik Eklund and John Gomes.
Courtesy of Topic ; Courtesy of Topic/ Evan Joseph
FREDRIK EKLUND & JOHN GOMES
Douglas Elliman
This Douglas Elliman duo not solely has taken their Eklund Gomes gross sales workforce bicoastal prior to now few years however expanded into Florida and Texas as effectively. “The most important development we see is rich folks shopping for extra residences across the nation,” says Fredrik Eklund (who additionally made THR’s record of Prime 30 Hollywood Actual Property Brokers this yr). “They now accumulate these residences like artwork. You had your artwork assortment, now you could have your house assortment.” The workforce, which has labored with everybody from Keith Richards to Jennifer Lawrence and Gigi Hadid, led gross sales on the Lenny Kravitz-designed 75 Kenmare and at the moment characterize a $79 million rental at 432 Park Ave. The group additionally co-leads gross sales at just lately launched luxurious growth The Olympia in Brooklyn’s DUMBO neighborhood.
A terrace at a five-bedroom unit at Olympia DUMBO, listed with Eklund | Gomes workforce.
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Stephen Ferrara and Clayton Orrigo.
Courtesy of Topic; Courtesy of Topic/Ben Rosenzweig
STEPHEN FERRARA & CLAYTON ORRIGO
Compass
Working collectively because the Hudson Advisory Crew at Compass, Clayton Orrigo and Stephen Ferrara work intently with New York Metropolis energy gamers from media to trend and past, having offered Nelson Rockefeller’s former Higher East Facet condo in late 2020 and representing the likes of Graydon Carter and Marc Jacobs. In 2021, the pair offered a $50 million penthouse at Tribeca’s so-called “Jenga constructing” and expanded their purview past New York Metropolis to help Tom Ford within the $48 million sale of his Tadao Ando-designed New Mexico ranch. “We’ve seen a shift to a number of houses,” says Ferrara. “Extremely-high internet value folks have all the time had a number of houses, however I feel the wealth creation that’s occurred [recently] has clearly opened up that risk for lots of people. In New York, that’s created an extremely robust pied a terre market as effectively.”
Compass’ Clayton Orrigo and Stephen Ferrara, together with Kirsten Jordan, had been itemizing brokers on former vice chairman Nelson Rockefeller’s co-op, which offered final yr for $9.95 million. The property hadn’t modified fingers in 63 years.
Connor Rancan
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Steve Gold, Ravi Kantha and Matthew Lesser.
Courtesy of Topic (3)
STEVE GOLD
Corcoran
Corcoran dealer and Million Greenback Itemizing New York star Steve Gold offered a slate of penthouses over the previous yr, together with one at 15 Hudson Yards, which was the very best recorded sale ($29.5 million) ever on the growth. He additionally was behind the sale of all three penthouses on the Zaha Hadid-designed 520 West twenty eighth St. “These trophy properties are getting swooped up, and persons are betting on the resiliency of New York and its comeback,” says Gold, whose purchasers prior to now yr included mannequin Hilary Rhoda, Griffin Dunne and Highlight producer Michael Bederman.
Steve Gold was itemizing agent on this penthouse within the Zaha Hadid-building, 520 West Avenue, which offered for $20.2 million late final yr.
Courtesy of the Corcoran Group
RAVI KANTHA & MATTHEW LESSER
Leslie J. Garfield
Working collectively because the Lesser Kantha Crew at Leslie J. Garfield, Ravi Kantha and Matthew Lesserhave offered a slew of townhouses to high-profile patrons throughout Brooklyn and Manhattan. This yr, the duo labored with Brooklyn Nets head coach Steve Nash on the acquisition of a $5 million Brooklyn townhouse and dealt with the itemizing of a $10.5 million Chelsea carriage home owned by Arthur Miller’s daughter. “2020 and 2021 have been a few of our greatest years within the enterprise. As soon as we had been capable of present once more [after the initial lockdown], the floodgates opened,” says Lesser. “The demand for townhouse residing surged dramatically. Patrons need privateness, out of doors house, and multi-floor residing.”
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Debbie Korb, Adam Modlin and Ryan Serhant.
Courtesy of Topic /Sarah Merians; Courtesy of Topic(2)
DEBBIE KORB
Sotheby’s Worldwide Realty
Whereas most high-profile sellers are keen to maintain their listings underneath wraps, when Jimmy Fallon and his spouse, producer Nancy Juvonen, put their Gramercy Park triplex in the marketplace earlier this yr, “They had been blissful to have it on the market as a result of it’s so uncommon,” says Sotheby’s Worldwide Realty’s Debbie Korb. “It’s very eccentric in essentially the most great approach and displays each of their personalities.” Korb additionally at the moment holds the itemizing for David Duchovny’s $7.5 million Higher West Facet condo and beforehand brokered the sale of Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard’s Park Slope townhouse.
Inside view of Jimmy Fallon and Nancy Juvonen’s triplex, listed with Debbie Korb and Jeremy Stein of Sotheby’s Worldwide Realty.
Evan Joseph for Sotheby’s Worldwide Realty
ADAM MODLIN
Modlin Group
Adam Modlin, founding father of Modlin Group, can simply be counted among the many metropolis’s high energy brokers, dealing with high-profile and sometimes delicate offers for a number of the metropolis’s most well-known residents. This yr alone, Modlin’s record of purchasers consists of Jennifer Lopez, Kanye West, Josh Kushner and Karlie Kloss, Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Ryan Seacrest, Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen, and Emma Stone. Modlin additionally brokered the $51 million sale of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein’s former Higher East Facet townhouse to Australian financier Michael Daffey and just lately closed a record-breaking sale of a Hamptons property priced at greater than $100 million. He at the moment is advertising a $50 million penthouse on the Time Warner Middle owned by developer and Miami Dolphins co-owner Stephen Ross.
RYAN SERHANT
Serhant
Over the previous yr, Million Greenback Itemizing New York mainstay Ryan Serhant appeared on the present’s tenth season, had a second season of his iHeartRadio podcast picked up and left his longtime residence at Nest Seekers Worldwide to start out his personal agency, Serhant, which has a division devoted to concierge companies for high-net-worth purchasers. Serhant additionally dealt with the sale of Bella Hadid’s $6.5 million SoHo penthouse in addition to gross sales for chef David Bouley and hotelier Ian Reisner. Serhant is main gross sales at Brooklyn’s Quay Tower, the place patrons have included Zendaya. “There’s an pleasure in the actual property enterprise proper now,” he says, “that I’ve by no means seen personally in my profession.”
Ryan Serhant offered mannequin Bella Hadid’s 2,180-square-foot duplex penthouse in SoHo in April for $6.5 million.
Serhant
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Off-Market Gross sales Soar in New York Metropolis
THR Illustration / Adobe Inventory
Whereas high-end Manhattan gross sales have picked up tempo throughout the board, a variety of brokers have observed the identical development: Increasingly of those offers are being dealt with off-market, that means the property isn’t formally listed on the market. “On the actually high finish, plenty of these offers are being achieved off-market,” says Douglas Elliman’s Tal Alexander.
In some circumstances, an off-market itemizing generally is a matter of sustaining a high-profile vendor’s privateness. “I’ve had listings of well-known actors, however as a result of they didn’t need their names within the press, I needed to do the promoting via word-of-mouth, kind of off-market,” says Sotheby’s Debbie Korb.
Provides Compass’ Stephen Ferrara, “Twenty-eight % of our enterprise this yr will probably be achieved off-market. In earlier years, it might need been 2 to 4 %.” And notes Compass’ Clayton Orrigo: “Patrons and sellers are connecting with issues off-market and chasing trophy belongings. An enormous portion of [those deals], no one even is aware of about.”
If town’s gross sales market continues at its present tempo, and sees a further anticipated enhance as overseas patrons start to return in power, some luxurious patrons might discover themselves rethinking their quiet gross sales and making an attempt their luck producing a bidding battle on the open market.
Says Corcoran’s Chris Kann: “We’re in a vendor’s market, and we’ve such low stock. It appears a vendor would need to seize this nice market, record an condo and see what sort of pricing they will get, conceivably over asking. There are such a lot of patrons on the market and a lot pent-up demand.”
Kann added, “Something approaching now’s going to commerce considerably increased than a yr in the past. The pandemic reductions are over.”
This two-bedroom penthouse at 235 East eleventh Avenue within the East Village is listed with Corcoran’s Chris Kann for $8.95 million. It features a 1,000-square-foot landscaped terrace.
Corcoran
This story first appeared within the Nov. 22 problem of The Hollywood Reporter journal. Click on right here to subscribe.