A four-story townhouse on East 81st Street and a prewar loft once owned by actor Jonah Hill topped Manhattan's luxury real estate market last week, but neither deal came easy. Both properties needed price cuts before buyers signed on, part of a broader slowdown that saw just 15 homes asking $4 million or more go into contract across the borough.
The Upper East Side townhouse at 111 East 81st Street entered the market in May asking $15 million, according to The Real Deal. The asking price dropped by $1.005 million on August 14, per StreetEasy, and the home went into contract just three days later, after 89 days on the market. The 6,546-square-foot property, spanning four stories with five bedrooms, four full bathrooms, an elevator, roof terrace, back garden, finished basement, kitchenette and gym, ultimately became the priciest signed contract of the week at just under $14 million, listed by Douglas Elliman agents John Giannone, Jac Credaroli and Lauren Muss.
The seller bought the property for $13.3 million in 2022 from Joseph J. and Allison F. Magliocco, according to public transaction records reviewed by Traded. That means the contract price landed close to what the seller originally paid, even after a nearly $1 million discount off the initial ask.
NoHo Loft Once Owned by Jonah Hill Sells Below Ask
The week's second-priciest contract belonged to Unit 5A at 36 Bleecker Street in NoHo, which entered the market in April asking $12.35 million before dropping to $11.5 million when it went into contract, per Corcoran. The 3,280-square-foot loft, listed by Noble Black, Jesse Feldman and Jami Gagliano, includes four bedrooms, four full bathrooms, 12-foot barrel-vaulted ceilings, a chef's kitchen and landscaped-courtyard views. The unit last traded hands in April 2022, when Jonah Hill sold it for $10.6 million after listing it at $11 million, a transaction previously detailed by StreetEasy. Hill had purchased the loft for $9.16 million back in September 2015.
The building itself, known as the Schumacher, carries its own architectural pedigree. Built in 1885 as home to the Schumacher & Ettinger lithographic printing company, the structure was designed by architect Edward E. Raht before Stillman Development bought it for $45 million in 2012 and converted it into 20 luxury condominiums. Morris Adjmi Architects led the conversion, recreating the building's missing central pediment using White Georgia marble, according to background compiled by Polycor. Mechanical systems were tucked into thickened exterior walls to preserve the barrel-vaulted ceilings, and the building launched sales in 2013 before completing construction around 2015, now offering residents doormen, a fitness center and a concierge.
A Third Straight Week of Fewer Deals
Manhattan's overall luxury contract count kept sliding last week. Olshan Realty recorded 15 signed contracts for homes asking $4 million or more, down from 18 the prior week and 21 the week before that, a steady three-week decline reported by The Real Deal. That 15-deal total also came in below the decade average of 17 deals typically logged during the third week of August, suggesting this year's slowdown was slightly sharper than the seasonal norm.
Of the 15 homes that found buyers, eight were condos, four were co-ops and three were townhouses. Combined, they carried asking prices totaling $99.2 million, with a median ask of $5.7 million and an average of $6.6 million. The typical home among them had spent more than two years on the market and was discounted by 11 percent before finally landing a buyer, underscoring how much price flexibility it took to move deals in a cooling late-summer market.
The prior week's report, which Hoodline covered when 18 deals closed, had been led by a four-bedroom condo conversion at the Flatiron Building asking nearly $24 million. That top price nearly halved week-over-week, with the East 81st Street townhouse's sub-$14 million ask claiming the top spot instead.
New Tax Rules Add Pressure at the Top
The slowdown comes as New York State's new annual surcharge on high-value, non-primary residences took effect July 1, adding a fresh cost consideration for buyers eyeing second homes in the city, according to law firm Day Pitney. Buyers at this price tier also face New York's progressive Mansion Tax, which climbs to 3.25 percent on the full purchase price once a deal crosses $10 million, per an explainer from Gadura Real Estate. That structure gives both buyers and sellers an incentive to negotiate final prices just below key thresholds, a dynamic visible in how both the East 81st Street and Bleecker Street deals settled just shy of round-number marks.
Despite the late-summer chill, 2026's slowdown follows a historically strong run for Manhattan's luxury market. Buyers signed roughly 1,436 contracts for homes priced at $4 million and above in 2025, an 11 percent jump over 2024 totals, according to data cited by Realtor.com. High interest rates pushed more ultra-wealthy buyers toward all-cash deals last year, a trend that helped fuel that surge even as this August's numbers suggest the market is settling into its usual seasonal lull.
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