Trump gets US$21m for Park Avenue penthouse, 40% off list price

[NEW YORK] Donald Trump, the real estate mogul turned presidential candidate, sold a penthouse on Manhattan's Park Avenue for US$21 million, almost two years after listing the five- bedroom, seven-and-a-half-bath apartment for US$35 million.

"It's one of the penthouses that was in his portfolio," Michelle Griffith, the listing agent with Trump International Realty, said in a telephone interview. "He never actually lived in it."

The full-floor apartment on the 24th floor is 575 sq m with a private elevator, floor-to-ceiling windows, Italian brass doorknobs, marble baths and a windowed chef's kitchen with a butler's pantry, according to a listing on property website StreetEasy.com. Ms Griffith declined to identify the buyer.

Prices for Manhattan co-ops and condominiums reached a record in the second quarter - an average of US$1.87 million - as bidding wars broke out over a limited number of listings, according to appraiser Miller Samuel Inc and brokerage Douglas Elliman Real Estate.

Mr Trump's unit, in the Trump Park Avenue building, at 502 Park Ave, closed on Friday after 676 days on the market, according to StreetEasy.

"In a market where the average listing is sold after 90 or 100 days, when something is out there for an extended period, the pricing is out of sync," Jonathan Miller, president of New York-based Miller Samuel and a Bloomberg View contributor, said in a telephone interview.

Mr Trump, 69, who's been leading polls for the Republican presidential nomination, reduced the price on the condo to US$28 million in December 2013 and to US$25 million in July 2014, before closing the sale last week, according to StreetEasy.

Hope Hicks, a spokeswoman for the Trump campaign, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on the sale. The Wall Street Journal reported the transaction earlier Monday.

BLOOMBERG