Inside Rising Townhouse Prices Across New York City

In August 2022, a townhouse on East 63rd Street sold for $15.5 million. Now the property is back on the market, asking a whopping $52 million.

The three-fold markup might seem like a lofty goal, though a few factors weigh in its favor. For one, the landmarked home, just a block from Central Park, underwent a significant renovation, including amenities typically reserved for luxury condos, like a Hammam, sauna, fitness center and elevator.

But the six-story abode is also returning to the market at a time when townhouses, particularly in Manhattan and prime Brooklyn neighborhoods, are logging double-digit, if not higher, price growth. Earlier this week, a gut-renovated home at 40 Garden Place in Brooklyn Heights traded for $11.5 million — more than double its sale price in 2022.

In Manhattan, townhouse deal volume rose more than 31 percent year-over-year in the second quarter, while the average sale price increased nearly 26 percent to $10.5 million, according to Leslie Garfield’s quarterly report.

On the Upper East Side, the average sale price surged over 49 percent annually to just under $14 million, while sales volume increased roughly 33 percent despite a drop in the number of sales from 36 in the second quarter last year to 32.

One reason for the steep rise in townhouse prices is the size of the homes involved in the latest trades, according to appraiser Jonathan Miller’s second quarter report on Manhattan sales. During the period, the average square footage of one- to three-family homes was more than 5,000 square feet, up nearly 15 percent year over year.

One deal that bolstered second-quarter numbers in Manhattan was 105-107 Bank Street, a megamansion in the West Village spanning 14,000 square feet that sold for $70 million in May. The home at 5 East 63rd Street is also indeed large. It spans more than 16,000 square feet and has eight bedrooms and 10 full bathrooms spread across its six stories.

Despite its size and new interiors, a future deal for the home may still fall short of its asking price.

The Bank Street home asked $75 million when it hit the market in October 2025. The Brooklyn Heights home that traded on Tuesday initially asked nearly $13 million. An Upper West Side townhouse, which set a new neighborhood record for the property type when it sold to a crypto billionaire for $45 million, closed at a 50 percent markdown from its initial listing price.

Still, another factor could also continue to push townhouse prices upward in the future: scarcity. Listing inventory for townhouses in Manhattan rose year-over-year in the second quarter, though it still remains more than 20 percent below the decade average, according to Miller’s report.

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Rents in New York City just keep climbing.

The median monthly rent in Manhattan hit a record high of $5,000 in July, with the average rent hitting above $6,000 and the average rent per square foot at more than $100, according to Miller’s report for TRD. In Brooklyn, median rent rose 17 percent annually to $4,500.

Miller attributed the uptick to tight supply, particularly in Manhattan, where rental inventory is about half what it was a year and a half ago, thanks to rising interest rates and a shallow pipeline of new rental developments.

Those constraints apply to all segments of the rental market, even on the ultra-luxury end where wealthy tenants are willing to pay upwards of six figures a month for a pad. Agents previously told TRD that available properties at that level are in short supply, though demand for them is higher than ever.

NYC Deal of the Week

The most expensive deal to land in the city rolls this week was for a penthouse at the skinniest supertall on Billionaires’ Row. Unit PH76 at 111 West 57th Street, which asked $55 million when sales launched in 2016, closed for $41.8 million. A buyer signed a contract to purchase the apartment in April.

The four-bedroom, four-bathroom duplex was the second-to-last unit remaining in the tower, developed by JDS Development and Property Markets Group. Sotheby’s International’s Nikki Field Team heads sales at the building.