---
title: "2 East 70th Street: What the $22.5M Maisonette Really Costs"
description: "What the $22.5M maisonette at 2 East 70th Street actually costs: mansion tax, a 3% purchaser-paid flip tax, a 50% financing cap and the monthly carry."
url: "https://realestaterebatesnewyork.com/guides/2-east-70th-street-maisonette-buyer-analysis"
source: "Real Estate Rebate Team"
---

Real Estate Rebate Team


Licensed Broker NY & NJ · License: 10491211335


## A townhouse on Fifth Avenue, wrapped in a co-op's rules


The maisonette at 2 East 70th Street is a duplex with two ways in: a dedicated street entrance on Fifth Avenue and a discreet door through the lobby of one of the more selective co-ops on the Upper East Side. Peter Pennoyer Architects gutted and reconfigured roughly 5,000 square feet of it. Eleven-foot ceilings on the ground floor, a kitchen wrapped in Fiddleback Sycamore, a dining room in sage Gracie chinoiserie under a domed ceiling, and the Frick's garden out the window. It asks $22,500,000.

All of that is accurate and all of it is in the listing. Here is what is not.

A buyer at this price pays $843,750 in mansion tax and, because this building charges a 3 percent flip tax _to the purchaser_ rather than the seller, another $675,000 on top. That is $1,518,750 before a lawyer or a title bill. The building caps financing at 50 percent, so at least $11,250,000 has to be cash. Maintenance runs $18,298 a month, which is $219,576 a year, every year, forever.

None of that makes it a bad apartment. It makes it a purchase where the asking price is the simplest number involved, and where the things that decide whether the deal works sit in the offering plan rather than the listing photos.


### The listing

#### 2 East 70TH Street #MAISONETTE, New York, NY 10021
Price$22,500,000
Space4 beds, 4.5 baths
NeighborhoodLenox Hill
BoroughManhattan


[View the maisonette](https://realestaterebatesnewyork.com/buy/newyorkcity/manhattan/10021/2-east-70th-street-maisonette-MAISONETTE-ny-10021)


Courtesy of Brown Harris Stevens Residential Sales LLC


On the maisonette the two taxes come to $1,518,750, and the Buyer Advantage covers about 22 percent of them. The flip tax alone is larger than the entire mansion tax bill on 91011B.

This table can be scrolled horizontally.Estimated mansion tax, purchaser-paid flip tax and estimated Buyer Advantage at the current asking prices at 2 East 70th Street.Residence
Asking price
Mansion tax rate
Mansion tax
Flip tax (3%, buyer pays)
Both combined
Buyer Advantage (up to 1.5%)
Maisonette
$22,500,000
3.75%
$843,750
$675,000
$1,518,750
$337,500
10A (in contract)
$10,500,000
3.25%
$341,250
$315,000
$656,250
$157,500
91011B
$8,950,000
2.25%
$201,375
$268,500
$469,875
$134,250


At $22,500,000 the maisonette carries an estimated $843,750 mansion tax and $675,000 flip tax, totalling $1,518,750, against an estimated Buyer Advantage of $337,500. Unit 10A at $10,500,000 totals $656,250, and 91011B at $8,950,000 totals $469,875.


## Two clauses that move the number more than any negotiation will


The first is the flip tax. Most New York co-ops that charge one put it on the seller, where it quietly reduces the proceeds and never appears in the buyer's budget. This building puts it on the purchaser. At $22,500,000 that is $675,000 of additional cash, and it is not a line most buyers have modelled when they decide what they can pay.

The second is the financing cap. The building permits 50 percent financing, so a buyer needs $11,250,000 in cash for the down payment alone, before the $1.5 million of taxes and before whatever liquidity the board expects to see left over afterwards. Co-op boards at this level routinely want to see substantial post-closing liquidity, and that requirement is not published anywhere. It comes out during the board package.

Neither clause is unusual for a Candela co-op. Both are the reason a $22.5 million co-op and a $22.5 million condominium are different products with different buyer pools, and it is worth understanding that before falling in love with the dining room.


- ### The asking price
$22,500,000Do not use this valueWhat the listing advertises and what the mansion tax and flip tax are both calculated on. On its own it tells a buyer nothing about whether they qualify here.It is the input to the cost, not the cost.
- ### Minimum cash at closing
$12,768,750Use this valueAn $11,250,000 down payment at the building's 50 percent financing cap, plus $843,750 of mansion tax and $675,000 of purchaser-paid flip tax. Legal, title and the board's post-closing liquidity expectations sit on top.This is the number that decides whether the purchase is possible.
- ### Buyer Advantage at closing
Up to $337,500ResultThe share of the commission we return to the buyer on a resale, credited at closing against the cash they bring.A ceiling, not a guarantee. Depends on the commission offered and the buyer agreement.

Three cards. The $22,500,000 asking price should not be used as the cash requirement. The minimum cash at closing, made up of an $11,250,000 down payment plus $1,518,750 in taxes, is $12,768,750. The Buyer Advantage of up to $337,500 returns against that.

Between the down payment floor and the two transaction taxes, a buyer at the asking price needs roughly $12.77 million liquid on day one, before legal, title and the board's liquidity expectations.


The most expensive apartment in the building is the cheapest to carry per dollar of price. 91011B costs 2.4 times as much to run, measured against what a buyer pays for it.

This table can be scrolled horizontally.Monthly and annual maintenance for the three apartments recently on the market at 2 East 70th Street, with maintenance expressed as a share of each asking price.Residence
Asking price
Maintenance / mo.
Maintenance / yr.
As a share of the ask
Maisonette
$22,500,000
$18,298
$219,576
0.98%
10A (in contract)
$10,500,000
$18,081
$216,972
2.07%
91011B
$8,950,000
$17,651
$211,812
2.37%


The maisonette asks $22,500,000 with maintenance of $18,298 a month, or 0.98 percent of the asking price annually. Unit 10A asks $10,500,000 with $18,081 a month, or 2.07 percent. Unit 91011B asks $8,950,000 with $17,651 a month, or 2.37 percent.


## The city thinks the whole building is worth one apartment


Here is the number that puts co-op economics in perspective. For the 2026 fiscal year the Department of Finance assigns 2 East 70th Street a market value of $22,468,000 for the entire building. The maisonette alone asks $22,500,000.

That is not an error. Co-ops are valued for tax purposes as though the building were a rental property, using the income a comparable rental would generate, which has almost nothing to do with what shares in a Candela building trade for. The whole property carries $1,179,068 of property tax across the 19 apartments the city counts, an average of $62,056 each, or about $5,171 a month. That is roughly 28 percent of the maisonette's maintenance, which is where a good part of that $18,298 actually goes.

It also determines the new non-primary residence surcharge, which reads the Department of Finance value rather than the price paid. Spread evenly, the average apartment here imputes to about $1,182,526, which sits in the 4 percent band and produces roughly $47,301 a year for an owner who does not make this their primary home. The word doing the work in that sentence is _average_. The surcharge follows each apartment's own share allocation, and a maisonette of this size almost certainly carries more shares than the mean. We are not going to invent the figure. Ask the managing agent for the apartment's share count and its allocated assessment before you assume anything.


Unit 4A sold for $13,250,000 in 2013 and $14,900,000 in 2025. That is 12.5 percent over twelve years, which is what buying the best of prewar Manhattan has actually returned here.

This table can be scrolled horizontally.Recorded sale prices at 2 East 70th Street, with the relationship to the asking price where an asking price was published.Apartment
Closed
Recorded price
Against the ask
5A
April 2026
$13,750,000
No published ask
4A
July 2025
$14,900,000
Closed at the full $14,900,000 ask
8B
July 2024
$3,500,000
Above ask: listed at $3,250,000
9A
April 2022
$11,000,000
No published ask
4/5B
July 2013
$9,100,000
Listed at $9,750,000
4A
March 2013
$13,250,000
No published ask
PH13A
June 2012
$40,064,000
No published ask


Recorded sales at 2 East 70th Street: 5A at $13,750,000 in April 2026, 4A at $14,900,000 in July 2025 at its full asking price, 8B at $3,500,000 in July 2024 above its $3,250,000 ask, 9A at $11,000,000 in April 2022, 4/5B at $9,100,000 in July 2013, 4A at $13,250,000 in March 2013 and PH13A at $40,064,000 in June 2012.


## The bigger the apartment, the longer it waits


Two things are happening in this building at once, and they point in opposite directions.

Unit 10A came to market on July 13, 2026 at $10,500,000 and went into contract on August 5, twenty-three days later. Unit 8B sold above its asking price in 2024. Unit 4A got its full $14,900,000 in 2025. When an apartment here is priced correctly, it goes.

Then there is 91011B. A 4,300-square-foot triplex with Central Park and Frick garden views, listed in February 2024 at $12,000,000. It is now asking $8,950,000, having taken a cut to $9,450,000 and then another on June 11 of this year. That is 25.4 percent below where it started, after 915 days on the market, and at $2,081 per square foot it is the cheapest thing in the building by a distance.

The wider Lenox Hill co-op market says the same thing in numbers. Four-bedroom co-ops there have been closing at a median 97.6 percent of ask after 71 days across 43 sales. Five-bedrooms take 137 days and 93.0 percent across 16. The four six-bedroom sales in the past two years took a median 620 days and closed at 90.0 percent of ask. Size is not a premium in this market. It is a discount and a wait.

The maisonette has been listed 88 days. On this evidence that is early, and the price is the thing being tested.


### The comparison worth making: the triplex in the same building

#### 2 East 70TH Street #91011B, New York, NY 10021
Price$8,950,000
Space5 beds, 5.5 baths
NeighborhoodLenox Hill
BoroughManhattan


[View 91011B](https://realestaterebatesnewyork.com/buy/newyorkcity/manhattan/10021/2-east-70th-street-b-91011B-ny-10021)


Courtesy of Douglas Elliman Real Estate


- Launch
### Listed at $12,000,000
A 4,300-square-foot triplex, nine rooms, four to five bedrooms, with views over Central Park and the Frick gardens. That opening ask worked out to $2,791 per square foot.**When:** February 5, 2024
- First reduction
### Down to $9,450,000
The feed carries the reduced figure without an individual timestamp for the change, so the exact date is not something we can state.**When:** Date not recorded
- Second reductionImportant
### Down to $8,950,000
A further 5.3 percent, bringing the total decline to 25.4 percent from the original asking price and the per-foot ask to $2,081.**When:** June 11, 2026
- NowImportant
### 915 days and still available
For scale, the median six-bedroom co-op sale in Lenox Hill over the past two years took 620 days and closed at 90 percent of ask.**When:** August 8, 2026

A four-step history of unit 91011B: listed February 2024 at $12,000,000, reduced to $9,450,000 at an unrecorded date, cut again to $8,950,000 on June 11 2026, and still available after 915 days as of August 8 2026.

A 4,300-square-foot triplex in the same building has given up a quarter of its asking price and is still available. That is the backdrop against which the maisonette is being priced.


## My assessment


I like this apartment more than the numbers around it. A maisonette with its own Fifth Avenue door in a Candela building is close to unrepeatable, and a full Pennoyer renovation removes years of work and risk that a buyer would otherwise take on themselves. If what you want is a townhouse without owning a townhouse, there is a very short list and this is on it.

What I would test hard is the price. At roughly $4,500 per square foot on the listing's own 5,000-square-foot figure, it asks more than twice what the triplex upstairs is asking after two cuts and 915 days. Some of that gap is real: the maisonette is renovated, the triplex is not, and the private entrance is genuinely scarce. But the building's own sales record shows 4A moving 12.5 percent in twelve years, and the Lenox Hill evidence shows large co-ops taking the longest and closing the furthest below ask. Nothing in that supports paying a full asking price at eighty-eight days on market.

The sequence I would follow is not complicated. Get the share allocation and the allocated assessment from the managing agent, because that decides the surcharge exposure and nobody can compute it from the outside. Confirm the flip tax basis in writing, since 3 percent of $22,500,000 is not a rounding error. Establish what the board expects in post-closing liquidity before you fall in love, because the 50 percent financing cap is only half the requirement. Read the building's financials and reserve position, as a nineteen-apartment prewar building spreads every capital project across very few shoulders. Then make an offer that reflects what this building trades at rather than what it asks.

Happy to run that analysis with you, and to confirm what the Buyer Advantage would return against the cash you need on day one.


## Frequently Asked Questions
How much cash does a buyer actually need for the 2 East 70th Street maisonette?+
At the $22,500,000 asking price, roughly $12,768,750 before legal and title costs. The building caps financing at 50 percent, so the down payment alone is $11,250,000, and the mansion tax of $843,750 plus the 3 percent purchaser-paid flip tax of $675,000 add $1,518,750 on top. Co-op boards at this level also expect meaningful post-closing liquidity, which is assessed during the board package rather than published in advance.

Who pays the flip tax at 2 East 70th Street?+
The purchaser. The RLS listing remarks for apartments at this building state a 3 percent flip tax payable by the buyer, and the Compass, Zillow and Realtor.com records for units 4A, 10A and 91011B all carry the same term. That is the less common arrangement, since most co-ops charge the seller. On a $22,500,000 purchase it comes to $675,000. Confirm the current rate and whether it is calculated on gross price, profit or shares with the managing agent before making an offer.

Why is the maintenance almost the same on a $22.5M apartment and an $8.95M one?+
Because co-op maintenance is charged against the shares allocated to an apartment, not against its market value, and the share allocations here were set long before current pricing. The maisonette pays $18,298 a month, 10A pays $18,081 and 91011B pays $17,651. Measured against the asking prices that is 0.98 percent a year for the maisonette and 2.37 percent for 91011B, so the most expensive apartment in the building is the cheapest to carry per dollar of price.

Will the new second-home surcharge apply to this apartment?+
It depends on the apartment's share allocation, and we will not guess at it. The surcharge is calculated on the Department of Finance's valuation rather than the purchase price, and DOF values the entire building at $22,468,000 for fiscal 2026. Spread evenly across the 19 apartments the city counts, the average imputes to about $1,182,526, which falls in the 4 percent Phase 1 band and produces roughly $47,301 a year for a non-primary residence. A maisonette of this size very likely carries more shares than the average, so the actual figure needs the allocated assessment from the managing agent.

How long do apartments take to sell at 2 East 70th Street?+
It depends entirely on the price. Unit 10A went into contract 23 days after listing at $10,500,000 in July 2026, unit 8B sold above its asking price in 2024, and unit 4A achieved its full $14,900,000 ask in 2025. Meanwhile 91011B has been on the market 915 days and has come down 25.4 percent from its original $12,000,000. Across Lenox Hill, the larger the co-op the longer it waits: four-bedroom sales have taken a median 71 days at 97.6 percent of ask, while the six-bedroom sales took a median 620 days at 90.0 percent.

How many apartments are in the building?+
Sources disagree, which is worth knowing before you rely on any single one. StreetEasy says 16 apartments across 14 stories, CityRealty says 17 units across 14 stories, Corcoran says 18 units across 11 stories, and the Department of Finance counts 19 apartments for tax purposes. We use the Department of Finance count for the tax arithmetic in this piece because that is the basis the city actually bills against. The building was completed in 1927 to a Rosario Candela design, though some listings date it to 1928.


Private Advisory • Régis Roumila

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