Real Estate Market Reports & Analysis

New York City is notoriously expensive, and for many people, living here is out of reach. But some parts of the city are truly off-limits for most of us. Take Billionaires’ Row, for example, a nickname given to the area of 57th Street directly south of Central Park. We’ve combed through the data to extract a list of the 50 most expensive streets and neighborhoods in New York City, based on home sales closed so far in 2019.

The cost of housing in the biggest cities in the U.S. has reached sky-high levels in recent years, and owning your own home has become an unattainable dream for most people. Home prices in cities like New York City and San Francisco are so high that most of us can’t even afford monthly mortgage payments, let alone purchasing a home with all cash.

Certain areas of a city can be a lot more desirable to homebuyers than others, and NYC is no exception. When it comes to choosing a place to live, plenty of factors come into play, like the availability of high-paying jobs, transportation options, walkability, good schools, excellent shopping and dining options, safety, low taxes, green spaces, and so on. Prospective homebuyers are willing to pay top dollar to have these aspects covered, and most of the time, they do, especially in NYC.

Luxury apartments keep selling like hotcakes in New York City, and the first half of 2019 was no exception. Prospective homebuyers and real estate brokers were equally busy during the first six months of the year, and sales continued to close, with June seeing a flurry of activity and multiple records being broken in the luxury market as buyers rushed to close before new tax hikes went into effect in July.

Millennials are strong in New York City; almost 3 million strong. And they’ve changed the way the city looks and feels. There’s a coffee shop literally around every corner, every street is buzzing with young adults, there’s no shortage of talent for the thousands of startups popping up every day, and then there's the food-Well, let’s say the flavors of the world have all met here. But where are Millennials living these days?

For most of us, living in a penthouse in Manhattan overlooking Central Park is an impossible dream, something that happens only in movies and fairy tales, not in real life. But for some, it’s not an impossible dream at all, but quite an achievable milestone, or something to check off a bucket list. How else would New York City end up with something called ‘Billionaires’ Row,’ a cluster of supertall residential skyscrapers lining 57th Street next to Central Park?

The American dream of owning your own home is becoming more and more unrealistic given the state of the U.S. real estate market today. Looking back at what home prices were 20 years ago is a big wake-up call, and it might make you question whether the American dream of homeownership is truly worth pursuing.

New York City has been long established as one of the most expensive cities across the globe, especially when it comes to home prices. Nowadays, everyone who is selling a piece of NYC real estate doesn’t think twice when putting an expensive price tag on it, knowing that people will without a doubt pay a hefty premium to live in the The Big Apple.

With year-end reports, that look back at 2018 and compare it to the year that came before, starting to roll in we've decided to make things a little more interesting by taking a look at the evolution of the million dollar sales market across New York City over the past 15 years. We'll highlight how homes priced over $1 million have become the norm in Manhattan, and how this price segment is showing steady growth rates in Brooklyn and Queens.