On Billionaires' Row, the Developer Down the Hall Sets Your Resale Price

A four-bedroom penthouse on the 94th floor of 432 Park Avenue came to market in 2024 at $33 million. It had last traded in 2019 for $31.5 million. The asking price came down several times until a contract was signed in early July 2026 at a last ask of $25.8 million. The closing was recorded in August at $22 million, about 30 percent below the 2019 price, The Real Deal reported.

Two months later, a 36th-floor corner unit at 220 Central Park South sold off-market for $34.3 million. The developer had first sold that apartment in 2019 for just under $22 million, and it traded again in 2021 for $23 million, according to The Real Deal.

Both buildings sit on the same few blocks of Midtown and look onto the same park. In 2026, one owner lost nearly a third of their purchase price and another sold at a premium of roughly 49 percent over the last trade. The gap comes from three things a buyer can check in any supertall: whether the developer is still selling, what the recorded comps actually included, and how the building's record looks to the next buyer.

The Comp in the File May Not Tell the Whole Story

Every resale on Billionaires' Row gets measured against an original sponsor price. That baseline is less solid than it looks. Donna Olshan described concessions as "the elephant in the room" in The Real Deal's 2025 analysis of the corridor. "A sponsor might also hang on to a price, but there might be a lot of givebacks at the end of the deal," she said. "Very often, the price that's recorded is not the actual price."

The same article gave an example. The top penthouse at 432 Park Avenue was recorded at $88 million in 2016, in a deal that came with a $56 million loan to the buyer from co-developer CIM Group. Sponsor financing, credits or closing givebacks can be part of a deal without appearing in the recorded number.

For a buyer, this means a recorded sponsor price says less than it seems to about what to offer. For a seller, it means a resale "loss" measured against that price may not reflect the full terms of the original deal.

While the Sponsor Is Still Selling, Every Owner Competes With It

A first-generation owner in a building where the developer still holds unsold units is selling against a seller with lower carrying costs, a marketing team and a reason to discount. Central Park Tower, at 217 West 57th Street, shows how that works.

Extell listed the tower's full-floor 113th-floor residence for $63 million when marketing began in 2018. In early July 2026 it went into contract at a last ask of $54.9 million. A similar unit on the 121st floor closed for $47.5 million in November 2025, and Unit 82E found a buyer in February 2026 at an ask of $26.7 million, The Real Deal reported. The 2025 analysis called the building "well-known for its hefty sponsor discounts."

Owners felt it. Unit 120 sold from Extell for $45.5 million in December 2024 and resold in 2025 for about $6 million less, roughly six months later. When the developer can cut its own asking price, the resale seller's ceiling is whatever the sales office will take that month.

When the Sponsor Leaves, the Discounted Sales Become the Comps

111 West 57th Street, the Steinway Tower, shows what happens next. Five years into sales, more than half the units were still unsold and Apollo had written down an $82 million junior mezzanine loan on the project. In March 2024, the building cut pricing by about 20 percent on nine units. One 69th-floor three-bedroom first offered at over $30 million dropped 30 percent to $20.5 million. According to The Real Deal's April 2026 account of the turnaround, deals under both sales teams closed 10 to 20 percent below the original offering plan prices.

The building now has 58 of its 59 available units sold, and only the $98 million quadplex penthouse is still available. The sales team also told the outlet it had dropped concessions and credits entirely. That matters to the next buyer. The building's recent comps are recorded at lower, cleaner prices, and the developer is about to stop competing with resale owners. Apollo is the sole remaining lender, and its loan is set to mature this November.

Earlier owners there paid for the transition. One bought for $26 million in 2022, listed for $24.5 million and sold for $20.4 million in June 2025. Buyers who came in after the reset carry a much lower cost basis.

One57 shows the same pattern from the other side. Of its first 37 sales by original owners, 32 traded at a loss once the 2014 to 2015 condo glut arrived. Yet an owner who bought a discounted resale there in 2021 sold in 2024 for $39 million, a 21 percent gain. In March 2026, Unit 65A resold for $26 million after last trading for $22.5 million in 2017, per The Real Deal. In both cases the gain came from buying after the building's prices had already reset.

The Corridor, Building by Building

The table below sets The Real Deal's August 2025 averages for first resales by original owners against each building's sponsor status and its 2026 trades. The averages cover sales through mid-2025, so they describe the first generation of owners, not today's pricing.

The three buildings with average losses all had developers cutting prices or discounting while first owners tried to sell, as at Central Park Tower and 111 West 57th, or saw their owners begin reselling just as a glut of new inventory arrived, as at One57.

A Building's Record Is Priced In Before the First Showing

432 Park Avenue shows the third force. Its first resales performed well. Only three of the first 13, in 2017 and 2018, went for less than the original price. Then, in 2021, the condo board sued the developers, alleging noise, leaks and broken elevators. Owners followed with a second suit in 2025 claiming the developers knew of the problems. The developers have denied the claims. Of the 16 units resold for the first time from 2021 to 2025, 10 went for a loss. Appraiser Jonathan Miller and others quoted by The Real Deal also point to the earlier oversupply of luxury condos and the pandemic.

The 2026 sales follow that pattern. Unit 52B sold in March for $8.7 million against a $9.9 million purchase in 2016. Units 78A and 78B, which a lender took back through foreclosure, closed this year for $53 million. That number is not a clean gain. The original $47 million purchase also included a third unit. Rafael Viñoly's tower is still one of the most recognizable residential buildings in the world. While litigation is open, though, its resale owners sell at a discount to that reputation.

220 Central Park South is the opposite case. Its sales team raised prices a dozen times between 2015 and 2018, and first-time sellers had still not taken a loss as of the 2025 analysis. Excluding one outlier penthouse trade, resales averaged 36 percent above sponsor prices. Brokers quoted in that piece credit Robert A.M. Stern's limestone design and compare the building to 15 Central Park West.

Demand Is Holding Up

None of this reflects weak demand at the top of the market. In the week of October 5 to 11, 2026, Manhattan recorded 25 signed contracts on homes asking $4 million or more, 15 of them condos. The first two weeks of October brought 55 such contracts, compared with 54 in the same stretch last year and a 10-year average of 47. Average days on market that week were 405, and the average discount from original to last ask was 4 percent. In April 2026, The Real Deal noted that many of the city's largest recent deals were in newer developments downtown and on the Upper East Side.

Four Questions to Ask Before Bidding on a Supertall

1. Is the developer still selling? If so, the developer's current asking prices cap your future resale, and your price should account for that.
2. What did the recorded comps include? Sponsor financing, credits and closing givebacks may not show up in a recorded price. Ask your attorney what the offering plan amendments and the closing documents show.
3. How did first-generation owners fare, and when did they buy? Owners who bought after a building's prices reset have generally done better than those who bought at launch prices.
4. Is there litigation involving the building? Open claims between a board and a developer can affect resale prices for years, whatever the outcome.

This post is general market information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Confirm the details of any offering plan, lawsuit or closing document with your own attorney and advisors.

On a street where one building's first resales averaged a 43 percent gain and a neighbor's averaged a 24 percent loss, a building's sponsor position, recorded comps and legal history matter as much as the floor plan. If you are considering a purchase or a sale on Billionaires' Row and want a disciplined read on the building's sales history, Andres Perea-Garzon can review it with you privately. Let's Connect.