New York’s Top Real Estate Agents: The 2023 List

The power brokers who have bought or sold houses for Rupert Murdoch, Trevor Noah and Mindy Kaling in Manhattan and the Hamptons share their secrets to success: “Always be prepared, on time, humble and well-dressed.”

Last year started with a bang for brokers in New York, but by fall and into 2023, a series of unfortunate events was putting a stranglehold on the market.

Historically low interest rates gave way last year to the highest in decades. Crypto crashed and banks failed. The specter of an all-out recession loomed. In the first quarter of 2023, the average sales price of a property in NYC dropped 5 percent. But despite the challenges, many real estate teams managed to post record numbers at the luxury end of the market. And in 2022, New York toppled London for the title of priciest world city in the ultra-high-end sector, with 287 deals of $10 million or more, including two co-ops sold by the estate of Paul Allen (for $101 million) and a condo at the new Aman property ($74 million).

“People feel less good about buying because they hear that there’s a recession out there,” says Lisa Lippman of Brown Harris Stevens. “But in general, the people I’m working with still have as much money as they did before.” Coming into 2023, the mood has already shifted bullish, and buyers are back, say many agents. “People got sick of waiting,” says Compass’ Rachel Glazer. “It was almost like a memo went out at the beginning of the year that said, ‘OK, everybody. Go ahead and buy now.’ ”

To put together this list of top agents in New York City and the Hamptons — which includes THR‘s New York Team of the Year, Douglas Elliman’s Eklund | Gomes — The Hollywood Reporter not only crunched total sales numbers but also scoured celebrity listings and sales for clients such as Trevor Noah, Mindy Kaling, Hugh Jackman, Jonah Hill and Baz Luhrmann. Client names are found via public records.

Gary Cooper & Preston Kaye
HEDGEROW EXCLUSIVE PROPERTIES

If you’ve never heard of Gary Cooper or Preston Kaye, that’s by design. The duo behind the Hamptons brokerage Hedgerow Exclusive Properties, founded in 2020, say that keeping a low profile is what gets the job done on the East End. “I built my business over 20 years by doing things very quietly, confidentially and discreetly, and not boasting about myself,” says Cooper. While Hedgerow is a relatively new player in the Hamptons, it has already done some of the area’s most remarkable deals. In December 2021, they sold 70 and 71 Cobb Lane in Water Mill for a combined $118.5 million. Both properties are now back on the market (asking $59.5 million and $59.95 million respectively). Meanwhile, 70 Cobb, a 28,000-square-foot mansion, recently was available for a staggering $2 million for July through Labor Day. “I think there’s an opportunity to do things differently and hyper focus on a specific segment of the market,” says Kaye. “That’s what we’ve done. We’ve a built a team. We’ve built a culture.”