Apartment prices in new development condominiums in Manhattan have increased at a fast clip, a trend boosted by the upper end of the market. Sales of new condominium units included in this report are expected to aggregate between $27.6 and $33.6 billion in sales through 2019. The average price of these new development units is expected to reach a new record of $5.9 million per unit in 2015. At the same time, far fewer units are being built than during the last development boom, in the mid 2000s, therefore the number of closed sales is expected to increase more modestly than their prices.

The gap between the average sale price of new development condos compared to all Manhattan condos has widened in recent years. Since 2009, new development prices have risen greatly as their share of the market has decreased. The average price/ft² will increase to an estimated $2,498 in 2015 and reach $2,787 in 2017.

In the years when the average price of new condominiums roughly mirrored the price of all condominiums sold - 2006, 2007, and 2008 - sales of new units also equaled or surpassed the number of resale units. By contrast, even though prices have shot up in recent years, the number of sales has not risen appreciably. The aggregate value of new development sales will reach an estimated $6.9 billion in 2015, $8.3 billion in 2016 and $10.4 billion in 2017. These estimated values do not take into consideration projects that may be planned but have not yet been filed with the attorney general or for which pricing information has not been made public.

The highest grossing new development in history is 15 Central Park West, which had $1.9 billion in sponsor sales, the majority of which were recorded in 2008. Offering plans filed for three new buildings - 432 Park Avenue, 220 Central Park South and 550 Madison Avenue - indicated that each is poised to equal or surpass 15 Central Park West's record sell-out value. In addition, it is likely that One57 will surpass 15 Central Park West's aggregate sponsor sales based on remaining in-contract and available inventory.