Sale price of Ivana Trump’s Manhattan home plunges by 33 per cent

Donald Trump is known for his property nous, but perhaps it doesn’t run in the family, judging by this real estate fail.

Donald Trump is known for his property nous, but perhaps it doesn’t run in the family.

The estate of his late ex-wife Ivana is having trouble selling her over-the-top Manhattan home after listing it three years ago for almost $41m.

For three decades, the residence was Ivana Trump’s personal retreat and the setting for the kind of entertaining that defined her New York years.

Today, that same 8,725-square-foot property sits on the market at $US17.9 million ($27.6m) following its most recent price cut — roughly one-third below the $US26.5 million ($40.8m) it first sought in 2022, according to the New York Post.

When Ms Trump died in July 2022 at age 73, the townhouse was listed just months later at $26.5 million.

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Donald Trump attends the U.S. Open Tennis Tournament circa 1988 in Flushing, Queens. Picture: Getty

Since then, it has undergone a series of price cuts: to $22.5 million in September 2023, to $19.5 million last summer — and now to $17.9 million. The overall decline represents about 32 per cent from the original ask.

After her highly publicised divorce from now-President Donald Trump, Ivana bought the townhouse in 1992 for $2.5 million, or about $5.4 million in today’s dollars.

Over time, she transformed the interiors into an unapologetically maximalist statement — rooms dense with fabric, pattern and sparkle.

The grand entrance gallery, lit by a crystal chandelier and edged with gilded paneling, sets the tone for the rest of the townhouse. Just beyond, a dining room sheathed in gold fabric leads into living spaces where a white grand piano occupies pride of place.

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Inside the incredibly opulent home. Picture: Realtor

Pretty in pink.

One of the five bedrooms.

Trump never played herself, but regularly brought in musicians to perform for guests. On the third floor, a library entirely wrapped in leopard print stood as a signature expression of her flair. Wallpaper, upholstery and artwork all echoed the theme, right down to a painting of two leopards in mid-play. On a sofa sat a doll made in her likeness, dressed in a silver jacket and a fur stole.

Her son Eric Trump said the house embodied her sense of comfort and belonging.

“My mum absolutely loved that house,” he told the Wall Street Journal in 2022.

“She was so comfortable there,” he said.

The south-facing terrace and garden beyond pulled in daylight, a rare amenity in Manhattan’s dense grid.

While the townhouse was often photographed for its gilded interiors, it was also the setting for family routines.

Eric Trump remembered evenings spent around the dining table as a teenager, alongside his siblings Donald Jr. and Ivanka. Conversations often gave way to gatherings that drew both celebrities and royalty.

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(L-R) Donald Trump, Ivana Trump, Eric Trump and Lara Yunaska attend The Eric Trump 8th Annual Golf Tournament at Trump National Golf Club Westchester on September 15, 2014 in Briarcliff Manor, New York. (Photo by Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images)

Parties featured pianists, actors and foreign dignitaries. Even in the most ornate of rooms, Trump maintained a sense of intimacy, surrounding herself with friends and family.

The details of her life remained woven into the house long after her children moved out.

Donald Trump Jr.’s former bedroom was eventually remade into a gym, where she passed time on a treadmill positioned to look across the street into the home of fashion designer Donatella Versace.

“They loved each other,” Eric Trump said, noting that his mother would wave from her workouts as Versace returned the greeting.

Trump chronicled her relationship to the townhouse in her 2017 memoir “Raising Trump.”

She described one living room as “how Louis XVI would have lived if he had had money.”

Her wardrobe space, she wrote, extended so far that it seemed endless. “I call it Indochine, because by the time you get to the end of it, you might as well be in another continent,” she said.

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The asking price for the home has dropped by 33 per cent.

It’s a very rare NYC townhouse.

Those flourishes helped distinguish the house in a city filled with classical townhomes. Pink mirrored bathrooms, Versailles-inspired details and fabrics chosen for their sheen or saturation made the residence stand apart from the pared-down minimalism more common among contemporary buyers.

The reductions reflect both the challenges of finding buyers for highly personalised homes and the current state of the Manhattan luxury townhouse market, where properties with traditional layouts and muted interiors are often quicker to move.

While Ivana Trump’s home carries a distinct provenance, its interiors present a buyer with a choice: embrace the decor as-is or commit to a costly renovation.

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The home from the outside.

For Eric Trump, the house remains less about real-estate value than about his mother’s presence.

Adam Modlin, of Modlin Group, and Douglas Elliman’s Roger Erickson share the listing in a co-exclusive.

Parts of this article originally appeared in the New York Post and are republished here with permission.

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