Sale Profits Absent for Most Manhattan Condo Owners that Purchased Right After Last Peak
A recently released industry report revealed that most home buyers that purchased a residential condominium in Manhattan right after the 2015 market peak “face a harsh reality: their investments have yet to recover nearly a decade later,” according to reported details of the report’s findings by Crain’s New York. In contrast, those condo owners that purchased before 2015 benefitted from “significant gains” upon sale, while “pandemic buyers are positioned for future profits.” In addition, the “ultra-pricey $10 million and above category” was the only subsector that “showed strength over the past decade,” many sellers seeing an approximate 18% gain. The completed analysis covered “2,513 non-new-development units that traded once between January 2003 and June 2024 and then sold a second time between July 2024 and June 2025.” The results confirmed that the “main factor determining winners and losers was timing,” contrary to neighborhood “which doesn’t matter so much anymore,” despite what many believe — with the results consistently true across a range of price points. A cited example provided in Crain’s article was the $4.8 million sale in April 2025 of Rosie O’Donnell’s 4-bedroom penthouse condo in Turtle Bay. The actress and comedian had purchased the unit in 2017 for $8 million, subsequently introducing the sale offering in May 2023 for reportedly $8.3 million. Further contributing to sale challenges are higher loan costs following the interest rate increases by the Federal Reserve that began in March 2022, causing the sales market to come close to a standstill at many price tiers. The building’s relevance also comes into play, with some buildings falling behind on planned upgrades due to the pandemic. While there are exceptions to the report’s findings, and other factors that come into play, the upbeat view amid the Fed’s first rate cut in September and the attitude that seller’s loss creates a buyer’s gain is helping to fuel a sense of optimism within the market that makes it “a healthy time to get in as the market starts revving its engines again.”