The luxury real estate market in Manhattan has been very slow since the Lehman Brothers failure in August of 2008.  Recently it has picked-up.

I had a new client in this week from Europe who runs a major banking firm and wanted to look at apartments with views on Fifth and Park Avenues.  Since the views are better on Fifth and we only had a few hours, we focused the search there.

We looked around the $10,000,000 price range and saw some amazing apartments.  I show apartments with stunning views all the time, but a high floor on Fifth Avenue is the best.  The contrast between Central Park and the rest of the city is dynamic, unlike any urban center in the world. 

We saw gorgeous apartments, tacky ones,  great layouts, and some not so great.  It is nice to know for those of us who cannot afford one of these apartments that even at $10,000,000 my buyer will have to make compromises on his purchase.  Either he will get the view with 3 bedrooms, and a terrace, but the apartment needs a renovation or he will get his desired wishes and sacrifice a bedroom.

Everything about these apartments are exclusive.  Many require 50% of the purchase price down or more.  Showings in most of the buildings are limited from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.  Some have priavate dining rooms for their owners.

I wish I could take all of you in, but let’s face it, if you don’t have the dollars we are not getting past the front door.  It is fun at times, selling real estate in Manhattan.

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