NYC Luxury Market Watch: Week of July 13, 2026

Manhattan's luxury market came back from the holiday with real volume. From July 13 to 19, 2026, 27 contracts were signed above $4 million, for a total of $205,026,000 in luxury volume. The top deal was $27,000,000 for a SoHo penthouse loft, and it was the only contract of the week above $20 million. Here is what moved, where the trend was pointing, and what we made of it.

The trend: the volume came back, the ceiling did not

Twenty seven contracts made this the busiest week since early June and close to double the July 4th week that preceded it. Crossing $200 million in a single mid July week is not something a slowing market does, and it puts to rest any reading of the holiday week as a signal.

The composition is the more interesting part. Exactly one contract cleared $20 million. Compass described the $20 million plus segment as noticeably subdued through the summer, with the majority of luxury contracts landing in the $4 million to $15 million range, and this week is the clean illustration: 27 deals, $205 million, one trophy. Four of the 27, 14 percent, were in new or recently built buildings.

Inventory kept falling, down to 6,092 units available in Manhattan against the 6,286 reported two issues earlier for the July 4th week.

Top 5 deals of the week

1. 73 Wooster Street, PHA

$27,000,000 · 4 BD, 3.5 BA, 4,856 SF

The week's only contract above $20 million, at roughly $5,560 per square foot. A SoHo penthouse set around a private interior garden courtyard, with a sun room, a media room and a 2,800 square foot roof terrace.

2. 500 West 18th Street, West 26D

$14,550,000 · 4 BD, 4.5 BA, 3,839 SF

A high floor residence in West Chelsea at roughly $3,790 per square foot. The address turns up again three weeks later, twice in one week.

3. 655 Sixth Avenue, PHB

$12,250,000 · 4 BD, 3.5 BA, 4,819 SF

A penthouse with substantial terrace space at roughly $2,540 per square foot, the lowest price per square foot of the four deals here with a published size. Square footage rather than location is what buys you a number like that.

4. 400 West 12th Street, 6C

$10,495,000 · 3 BD, 3.5 BA, 2,626 SF

Superior Ink, on the West Village waterfront, at roughly $4,000 per square foot. The smallest residence in the week's top five and the second highest price per square foot in it.

5. 1 West 72nd Street, 93/94

$8,000,000 · 3 BD, 4 BA

A combination of two apartments at the Dakota. No square footage was published for this contract, which is common for prewar cooperatives where no measured floorplan is filed.

The Elevated take

The number to hold onto from this week is not 27, it is the $4 million to $15 million band doing nearly all of the work. That is the part of the luxury market made up of people who intend to live in the apartment, and it stayed liquid right through the summer while the trophy tier sat on its hands.

Compass flagged the pied-à-terre tax as a possible contributor to the quiet at the very top, particularly among international and second home buyers. That is worth carrying as a hypothesis rather than a finding. One subdued summer is not enough to separate a tax effect from ordinary July, and the same summer produced a $54,900,000 contract two weeks before this one and a $40,500,000 contract three weeks after it.

For anyone planning a fall launch, the signal that week was in what was being prepared rather than what was signing. Off market conversations and September listing plans were already forming in mid July, which is roughly six weeks earlier than most owners assume they need to start. By the time a seller decides in late August, the good photographers and the good stagers are already booked.

Work with Elevated

Elevated advises buyers and sellers across Manhattan's luxury market, with $2B+ in lifetime closings including $500M+ sold off-market. Get in touch or reach Zeve Salman directly at 917-607-1331.