#Data reveals record NYC resale profits during the pandemic

Billionaire Dan Och flipped his 220 Central Park South penthouse in late 2021 for a staggering $188 million — and left New York real-estate gawkers flipping out in the process.

That purchase price, alone one of the biggest in city history, made waves — but so does the fact that Och more than doubled his investment. He spent $93 million for the nearly 10,000-square-foot residence in 2019, meaning a $95 million gain: the city’s highest resale figure.

“The spread between the last purchase price and the current purchase price would be one of the [city’s] highest-priced sales … just for the upside on the flip,” appraiser Jonathan Miller, the president and CEO of Miller Samuel Inc., told The Post.

The lucky new owner is the family firm of Alibaba billionaire Joe Tsai — who already bought two other units inside the same park-facing tower. Those units in turn marked two of the city’s largest resales between 2017 and 2021.

But not all of the action went down at 220 CPS. During that time frame the top 10 flips across the city accounted for $220.97 million in profits for their owners.

What’s more, nine of the 10 priciest resales between those years took place during the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021, according to data provided by StreetEasy.

Outside the city, in other high-gloss enclaves, such as Greenwich, Conn., Malibu, Calif., and Palm Beach, Fla., it’s a similar story. The rich have gotten richer during COVID, data shows, and they’ve taken their work remote — resulting in price battles for top properties.

“In Manhattan, this didn’t happen until … later, because the city was the global hot spot for COVID in 2020, and then with vaccine adoption in early 2021 being so rapid, the market woke up,” Miller said, adding that Manhattan also became synonymous with a large exodus in COVID’s early days. “I think of it as late to the party.”

Read on for the city’s most eye-popping home flips over the last five years.

Sky’s the limit

One full-floor lair at the tony, Robert A.M. Stern-designed 220 Central Park South tower wasn’t enough for Joe Tsai, the co-founder of e-commerce company Alibaba. So, in a 2021 purchase, he snagged two for a mighty $157.5 million combined. He bought the 60th and 61st floor in separate deals — and if the total price for them didn’t already make jaws drop, their individual numbers also take the cake.

Unit 60 sold in 2020 for $50.91 million, then sold to Tsai in 2021 for $82.5 million, according to city records, making for a massive $31.58 million difference.

Unit 61, which Tsai bought for $75 million, sold to its previous owners just one year earlier for $51.42 million, making for a $23.57 million flip, StreetEasy shows.

In January 2022, Tsai snagged more headlines. Hong Kong-based Blue Pool Capital, Tsai’s family firm, was outed as the buyer of billionaire Daniel Och’s $188 million penthouse. With that latter purchase, Tsai — who was born in Taiwan, holds a Canadian passport and has a 49% stake of the Brooklyn Nets — now owns some $345 million in property inside the building.

Other units in the building are also making big money for early investors.

When Canadian-born Arel Capital co-founder Richard Leibovitch closed on the sale of his 3,703-square-foot, 31st-floor home at 220 CPS in 2021, he walked away with a 26% appreciation.

The four-bedroom listed for sale in January 2020 for $36 million, but later lowered its price to $33 million — and it sold for that asking price.

Leibovitch purchased the home for $26.21 million in late 2018, making for a price difference of $6.78 million.

Not a full-floor unit or a penthouse, this apartment still packs a punch. The kitchen has an island, plus glass and chrome cabinetry, wide-plank white oak herringbone flooring throughout, plus city and Central Park views from the master bedroom.

Of the 10 highest-priced resales over the 2017-to-2021 period, four were at 220 CPS, known as one of the most successful residential developments in city history.

“That development site occurred over a very long window of time, and so there was a tremendous amount of anticipation,” said Miller. “And it amassed incredible sales [at] the building.”

Celeb sanctuary

Justin Timberlake said “Bye Bye Bye” to his Tribeca penthouse in December — and earned quite the pretty penny from the off-market deal. Timberlake and his actress wife Jessica Biel snagged this 5,375-square-foot, four-bedroom penthouse at the celebrity-studded 443 Greenwich St. for $20.18 million in 2017.

Just before Christmas, they sold it for $29 million, earning an $8.81 million payday for the couple.

As for the new owner of this A-list home, their identity is shielded by a corporation — and its current features aren’t known, as it wasn’t publicly listed.

Other residents in the building, itself a conversion of a former book-binding factory, have included The Weeknd and Bella Hadid, Rebel Wilson and Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton, the latter of whom sold his own penthouse there for a cool $49.5 million in late 2021.

House party

It may not have the same pedigree as a Central Park-fronting tower, or a condo favored by household celebrity names, but the 21-foot-wide, 7,411-square-foot Greenwich Village townhouse at 14. E. 11th St. made a splash when it sold in late 2020.

Listed for $28.5 million, it sold to an anonymous buyer, and one who never even visited it, for $28 million, all in cash. The seller, also shielded by a corporation name, bought the home for $21 million in 2017, making for a $7 million gain. The townhouse, which was the subject of a two-year renovation, has ornamental plasterwork in the living room, an elevator, an eat-in kitchen with two brass sinks, a full-floor master suite with a woodburning fireplace and, outside, more than 1,400 square feet of gardens and terraces.

Brooklyn fine-fine

What a difference a few years can make.

A gut-renovated Brooklyn townhouse at 47 Sidney Place, which sold for $3.81 million in March 2018, resold in April 2021 for $10.35 million — making for a gain of $6.54 million.

It hit the market in September 2020 for $10.99 million, StreetEasy shows.

Built to passive-house standards for energy efficiency, the 23-foot-wide, 6,172-square-foot home has an eat-in kitchen with large windows that look out to the back garden.

The parlor has high ceilings and a fireplace — and the same goes for the dining room. The master suite has an ensuite bath equipped with a steam shower, while two other bedrooms are located on the floor above.

Lofty ambitions

An anonymous buyer snagged the nearly 5,000-square-foot, second-floor Tribeca loft at 24 Leonard St. in late 2020 for an even $18 million.

That marks a tidy $8.28 million profit from when it previously sold in March 2019 for $9.71 million.

The space has five bedrooms, five bathrooms — as well as a private garden more than 4,300 square feet in size, with flowers, evergreens and an 8-foot hot tub.

This sale happened at a time when the COVID-19 vaccine was still largely unavailable and demand was heightened among the well-heeled stay-at-home crowd for larger dwellings with outdoor space.

A number of duplex units across NYC, as well as another full-floor apartment, traded hands for figures reaching into the mid-$20 million range.

The buyer of this Leonard Street lair also got an automated parking spot included with the price.