Despite surge in attention, Boston luxury condos still can’t compete with top cities

The view from 22 Liberty at Fan Pier, where luxury condos were resold for millions before the building even opened. Yet no one would bat an eye at those prices in New York or Miami. Boston Globe staff photo by John Tlumacki

By Scott Van Voorhis

April 12, 2016

3 minutes to read

Boston may be in the middle of a luxury condo building boom, but the prices of the city’s most exclusive digs have yet to match New York or even Miami levels, a new report shows.

We may have two posh 60-story condo towers taking shape downtown, with the new Four Seasons (also known as One Dalton) and Millennium towers, but even so Boston just barely made the cut in Coldwell Banker’s new report on the top 20 cities in the U.S. for luxury condo sales.

New York, Miami, Aspen, Colorado and Beverly Hills, California dominated the report, which looked at sales above $1 million, $5 million and $10 million. OK, Boston did made the $1 million-plus list, though at a less than impressive No. 20, just behind Scottsdale, Arizona.

Still, Boston did take a consolation prize of sorts, with the report naming it as a “market to watch” for sales over $1 million and $5 million.

“Cranes dot the skylines of nearly every major U.S. city, as developers of luxury high-rise buildings race to meet the voracious demand of ultra-wealthy homebuyers willing to pay tall premiums to live high in the sky,” notes the new report by Coldwell Banker Previews International.

Stacking up

Now some of this just may be timing. It is still early in the sales process for the new 60-story Four Seasons tower in the Back Bay. Penthouses at the top of the skyscraper could fetch prices in the $20 million and up range, brokers have speculated.

The Millennium Tower recently sold its super deluxe penthouse. While the sprawling 13,000-square-foot unit had been listed at an eye-popping $37.5 million, the sale price was not disclosed, a tip off of sorts when it comes to guessing the price.

By comparison, 40 condos in New York fetched more than $20 million last year, while one buyer is spending $200 million to snap up multiple penthouses at 220 Central Park South, according to the report.

A 65^th floor penthouse in Chicago fetched $18 million last year, while a 42^nd floor penthouse in Los Angeles sold for $22.5 million. For its part, Miami has more than a dozen condos on the market for $20 million and up, the Coldwell Banker report finds.

Amenities

Not only are other cities beating us up when it comes to sky-high condo prices, their towers are also offering more outrageous amenities. Boston’s new Four Seasons tower boasts floor to ceiling windows and a private restaurant for condo owners, among other perks.

All good, but how about being able to park your car outside your 20^th floor condo, for example, and being able to walk right in? You can do that in new towers in Florida, New York and Los Angeles, which boast “sky-garages.” Simply drive your car into an elevator and up and away you go.

Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban enjoy this perk at 200 Eleventh Avenue in Manhattan, the report notes.

For that matter, how about the 25-story Ten50 condo tower in downtown Los Angeles, which comes with its own drone launching pad?

And in terms of being family friendly, it’s hard to see any of Boston’s luxury towers, new or old, beating the Estates at Acqualina, twin 50-story towers in Florida. The twin towers comes with not just one but six pools, a basketball court, a movie theater and a bowling alley.

“More families, with and without kids, are choosing an urban lifestyle for the quality of life,” David Wolf, development marketing president and senior vice president of the Chicago Region at Coldwell Banker, notes in the report. “Buyers who can afford it want to recreate the sanctuary experience traditionally associated with a home in the suburbs, but instead, they’re doing it in a high-rise in the city.”