Upper West Side Penthouse

you are kidding right? Maintained their value?

True penthouses are rather rare and they have probably held their value better relative to the overall market. I would expect they are still down considerably from peak, probably 15-20% vs. 25-30% overall.

I would argue that penthouses have lost more value than typical apartments. There has been more wealth destruction in the luxury segment - stock markets, hedge funds, madoff etc. Hampton homes are selling for 50% less and in some cases even more. This is a recession folks- every asset looses value, but "wants" loose more than "needs". No one needs a penthouse, they just want one.

OTNYC, can you provide some links? From what I see, there's practically no true penthouses (with set back terrace, etc.) on the market, and what there are, didn't really dip.

valueseeker, those who "just want one" usually can just afford one. Again, any proof to them being down?

let me begin by saying....i have no data whatsoever to back up my position.

something tells me that the cost of new and used rolls royces and porsches have gone down considerably less (percentage wise) than chevy's and fords.

and a penthouse is surely more similar to a rolls than a chevy.

Columbia, I have a different perception. I am under the impression that in general the biggest cuts are in the luxury markets. More people going down the ladder and less going up...More people driving Fords, less driving Rolls...

Well. The search for pre-war penthouses ONLY, with terraces on UWS shows 6 listings, of which only one is pre-war and one is with proper terrace. The drop is from 4% to 10%.

"The poor stay poor, the rich get rich. That's how it goes, and everybody knows". Leonard Cohen might as well have been writing jingle for Rolls-Royce. Because while mass-market automakers have seen plummeting sales, the quintessential luxury marque has enjoyed another year of sales improvement, building on the five years of consecutive growth the company has experienced since re-launching itself under the BMW umbrella.

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/01/14/thats-rich-rolls-royce-sets-another-sales-record/

Good apts always retain value...the bad ones are the ones that simply won't sell

As there are so few prewar penthouses for sale now and given the decent price for ones that have sold in the past 6 months, I would think that these would hold up fairly well. There will always be a demand for decent outdoor space. It's just surprising we have not seen more for sale in this market.