Central Park, looking towards the Dakota building
It’s no secret that Manhattan housing prices are astronomical compared to anywhere else in the nation, but it’s probably the only place imaginable where a cool $50 million doesn’t even get you a third bedroom. Of course, the two-bedroom apartment in Midtown is something of an anomaly. At 4,500 square feet, it’s quite a bit larger than the typical two-bedroom — and it’s nearly double the size of the average American home, which stands at a paltry 2,392 square feet by comparison. But still, the asking price amounts to $11,000 per square foot, according to Yahoo Homes.
The condo takes up an entire floor of the Ritz-Carlton New York, right at the foot of Central Park, Yahoo notes, and residents pay association dues that allow them to make use of some hotel services, although they must pay extra for housekeeping and dog walking. As justification for its heart-stopping cost, the listing describes the home as “a rare marriage of the ultimate in elegance and sophistication with the most spectacular views in all New York.”
(MORE: Jet-Setters in China: A Rising Class of Super Rich Consumers Could Spark a New Luxury Market)
Still, the $50 million space is not the only Ritz residence available to interested members of the bourgeoisie: a nine-bedroom penthouse is on the market for $95 million.
A July story from The New York Times found that the median sale price for Manhattan real estate in this year’s second quarter rose 2.4 percent from last year to reach $840,000. The average price of Manhattan condos had increased to $1.81 million, the Times reported. The luxury market performed robustly, and the 1930s-built apartments at the Ritz, often overshadowed by newer developments in Manhattan, once again saw a resurgence in interest. In May, a $70 million property with four bedrooms was sold in the building to casino mogul Steve Wynn, paving the way for the astronomical asking price of $50 million for the two-bedroom just two floors up.
Still, it was a different Manhattan building that shattered price records this year. Bloomberg News reported in August that 15 Central Park West — home to Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein — incited a surge in the ultra-luxury market after a five-bedroom townhouse on the 35th floor was listed for $95 million.