[imagesource: Serhant. Studios]

This New York Central Park Tower penthouse is making me queasy.

Not because the Billionaires’ Row mega-tower has set a record for the world’s tallest residential condominium at 472 metres high, but because of the ludicrous price of the penthouse.

Developer Gary Barnett is hoping to top that record with another, the highest-ever home sale price in the US.

The building’s triplex penthouse, at 426 metres high, is already the most expensive listing in the US, with Barnett’s Extell Development asking for $250 million.

That’s R4,4 billion. My tummy.

Image: Serhant. Studios

Mansion Global explains this maddening market:

With the ultrahigh price point, Extell is hoping to tap into a growing submarket for $100 million-plus homes. A string of nine-figure deals has closed across the country over the past two years, in New York, Miami, Malibu and Palm Beach. Experts say those deals seem detached from the realities of the broader U.S. housing market, which has recently taken a tumble amid inflation, rising interest rates and recession fears.

“The nine-figure club is a special club, and that club is also now looking to own nine-figure real estate,” said listing agent Ryan Serhant of Serhant. “It’s a new paradigm now. The uber-wealthy are looking for places to diversify assets, and real estate has become one of the most popular and sought after mega-assets. The levels have exploded.”

It is hard to wrap your head around, I know.

The seven-bedroom penthouse spans the 129th through 131st floors and measures more than 1 625 square metres, with a winding sculptural staircase connecting the floors:

Image: Evan Joseph

The uppermost floor is currently configured as a private ballroom or entertainment space, and the pièce de résistance is a private, roughly 130-square-metre terrace with views of the city, Central Park, and the Hudson and East rivers:

Image: Evan Joseph

Residents in the New York Central Park Tower get to luxuriate in a heavenly shared lounge area, outdoor pool deck, movie theatre, and private club on the 100th floor.

Serhant argues that the price is worth it because “you don’t have to renovate for four years to create your dream home. It’s been built for you.”

Barnett says the price is a relative bargain according to the price per square foot and that the building’s height makes the penthouse “unique in the world”.

Sure, if you say so.

[source:mansionglobal]