New York City's iconic Chrysler Building has been sold for a massive 81% discount compared to the price that the owners had paid to buy it a decade ago, several reports have revealed.

Austria’s largest private real estate company Signa Holding GmbH and RFR Holding LLC have reached a deal with the owners to buy the skyscraper for around $150 million.

The seller, Abu Dhabi Investment Council, paid $800 million for a 90 percent stake in the 77-storey tower in 2008.

According to The Wall Street Journal, what led to the massive discount on the sale price was the rent that the Chrysler Building has to pay to the Cooper Union school which owns the land beneath the property.

The annual rent increased to $32.5 million in 2018 from $7.75 million in 2017; it set to further increase to $41 million in 2028.

The Chrysler Building, which was finished in 1930, was the world's tallest building until the Empire State Building, also in Manhattan, was built 11 months later.