How did the lofty penthouse get knocked off its perch?
- Buyers have to work out why a ‘penthouse’ has four or five floors above it, and navigate terms like ‘triplex penthouse’ and ‘sky loft’
When most people think of a penthouse, it’s the top-floor unit of a luxurious residential building that typically comes to mind.
The definition of a penthouse has become murkier in 2019. In New York City in particular, prospective buyers must navigate terms such as “triplex penthouse” and “sky loft” and figure out why a unit called a “penthouse” might have four or five floors above it.
“Along with the development boom that we just had, the term penthouse has evolved a little bit from the traditional sense of the top-floor apartment – which is the penthouse – to more of a marketing term in general to help achieve sometimes higher sales figures and a distinction from other units in the building,” Steve Gold, a luxury real property agent at Corcoran and star of Bravo’s Million Dollar Listing New York, said.
In the past, a penthouse was exclusively defined as the top-floor unit, according to Gold.
“Now, industry wide at least among brokers, a penthouse is defined as anywhere in the building where the building begins to ‘set back’ – in other words, when the building begins to have terraces,” Gold said. “So if you have a building that has the shape of a wedding cake, you have many ‘penthouse apartments’ there, which is great if you’re a developer and you have five penthouses versus only one to sell.”
According to Jason Haber, an agent at Warburg Realty in Manhattan, “the days of the penthouse being the top floor are long gone.”
These days, the term can be applied to a unit if it has a different layout, higher ceilings, or other amenities that differentiate it from other units in the building, he said.