Despite the slowdown in home sales across the city, high-gloss townhouses on Manhattan’s Upper East Side are in demand.
So much so that a 22-foot-wide property at 36 E. 68th St. traded hands for $57 million in an off-market deal, the Wall Street Journal reports.
This is the latest high-dollar transaction in a string of prominent neighborhood sales.
Recently, a Fifth Avenue Gilded Age townhouse once owned by the Vanderbilt family and, later, the government of the former Yugoslavia sold for $50 million in an all-cash deal. An undisclosed businessman buyer from London made the purchase from Yugoslavia’s successor states without ever stepping foot inside the property.
Last month, investor Keith Rubenstein sold his Upper East Side townhouse for close to $50 million after the property spent years on the market, initially listing for $84.5 million. Meanwhile, Jeffrey Epstein’s townhouse at 9 E. 71st Street sold for nearly $50 million last March.
The buyer of the 9,200-square-foot 36 E. 68th St. is reportedly based in South Africa, and is in the finance industry.
Built in 1879, it spans five floors, and features six bedrooms and 12 bathrooms.
The deal was sourced virtually and showings took place over FaceTime, with the purchase almost completed before the buyer saw it in person, according to the Journal.
“The super prime market has remained robust and we’re not just seeing interest — buyers are taking action,” Ryan Serhant, founder of the eponymous Serhant brokerage, told The Post.
Serhant explained that this particular listing, which he held alongside Loy Carlos, is “the most expensive price-per-foot ever achieved for a townhouse on the Upper East Side.”
“This caliber of buyers are less influenced and less affected by factors such as rising rates, and are looking to make investments in real assets that will generate a longer-term value,” Serhant added.