with 225 Fifth Avenue, now 20 pairs of 2007 sales + recent resales

quick points
I noticed today that the Manhattan loft #10A at 225 Fifth Avenue had a deed filed yesterday (some details to follow) and in the course of looking at past history here (The Grand Madison) I discovered that I had overlooked three other sales here over a three week period spanning New Year’s. Those three (formerly) overlooked sales have now been added to the Master List of Manhattan loft closings and … because each of the three was first sold in 2007, to my collection of lofts that have sold recently and in 2007.

That collection of paired resales of Manhattan lofts is now 20, and that March 5 data dump (data dump: 20 Manhattan lofts sold in 2007 + recently) has been updated (again), for all you who seem to have bookmarked that post.

one 2006 pair
#10A at 225 Fifth Avenue closed on March 8 (deed filed yesterday) at $1.65mm after a pretty efficient marketing campaign: one price, three months to contract, only a 3% discount from the asking price. No surprise that this "1,613 sq ft" loft is in essentially the identical condition as when it sold in the original offering of The Grand Madison (although there is listing babble about custom closets), as that sponsor sale was only in 2006. (This loft was one of the very first to close in this condo loft conversion, but is ineligible for that reason for the paired loft resales collection I posted on March 5; link is above).

The floor plan for #10A exemplifies why it can be difficult to make medium-size lofts out of buildings with large footprints: too many units are too far away from the edges of the building. Although #10A is not Long-and-Narrow it is  a rectangle, with the only four windows on one side, leaving a 16 ft wide living room with 2 windows, a 13 ft wide bedroom with 2 windows, and a ‘home office’ (no windows) that many people will use as a sleeping area. With "1,613 sq ft", this loft will have to compete against real 2-bedroom Manhattan lofts.

I will create a set of paired resales from 2006 similar to the 2007 list, and this loft will be on it. When it sold in the first offering, it cleared at $1.78mm, so the recent sale represents a decline of 7.8% since November 2006. This sale at $1.65mm is essentially flat to the December 29 sale of the identical unit upstairs, as #11A traded at $1.667mm.

After yesterday’s convoluted journey through un-neighborly comps down the street (March 17, 170 Fifth Avenue loft sales are confusing), it is nice to see two neighbors who comp out exactly where you would want them to … if you expect to see rationality in the Manhattan real estate world. #10A at $1.65mm on March 8 lines up very well with #11A at $1.667mm on December 29. There’s a charm in that.

stalking the sellers
It appears that the sellers of #10A at 225 Fifth Avenue (a) love the micro-neighborhood, (b) needed more space, (c) are very confident about their financial situation, and (d) don’t mind paying transfer taxes. While I can’t be certain, the deed address for their sale of #10A is #14F at 15 East 26 Street (15 Madison Square North), which is immediately around the corner. #14F sold to a LLC on February 5 at $4.73mm (see what I mean about their confidence about finances?), with "2,380 sq ft" of 2 real (windowed) bedrooms and another home office. So these folks moved around the corner to get 767 more feet, a park view, an additional bedroom, and were willing to pay nearly three times the price of their 225 Fifth Avenue sale. That‘s confidence!

Whether the #14A buyers got a deal or not, they paid much less than the developer originally wanted: this loft came to market in April 2008 at $6.125mm.

At the risk of getting even further afield, the #14A buyers did not get as good a ‘deal’ as their new neighbors downstairs, as the sponsor sold #13A on December 4 (same footprint, same condition, same views) for $4.275mm. They will have a lot to talk about when these neighbors meet!

© Sandy Mattingly 2010