Apartment Space Costs The Most In This NYC Neighborhood: Study

SOHO, MANHATTAN — New Yorkers who bought an apartment in SoHo in 2019 could have gotten the same amount of space in other New York City neighborhoods for about an eighth of the price, a new study found.

The ritzy Lower Manhattan neighborhood was named the most expensive in New York City in terms of where residents can get the most living space for their money, coming in at a whopping $2,023 per square foot of apartment space, the StreetEasy report found.

That price was far higher than the citywide average of $902 per square foot of space and more than eight times some of the most affordable spots in the Big Apple, most of which were found in the outer boroughs.

It also means that SoHo apartment buyers with StreetEasy's benchmark $700,000 budget can only get a 346-square-foot apartment as opposed to nearly 3,000 square feet for the same price in those affordable neighborhoods.

The Bronx took the prize for the borough with the most affordable neighborhoods. A home buyer in Morris Park, where space goes for an average of $243 per square foot, can get 2,745 square feet on the $700,000 budget.

Not far behind was Queens, where the $700,000 could also buy a 2,745-square-foot apartment in Jamaica Estates. Every square foot of space went for just $255 there.

In Brooklyn, East New York apartments cost the least, with every square foot going for $338.

Manhattan was the most expensive borough, but researchers found that there were still deals to be had if buyers go uptown. The most affordable neighborhoods in the borough were Washington Heights, Morningside Heights and Hamilton Heights.

The report didn't lay out a ranking per borough for the most expensive neighborhoods, except to point out that Cobble Hill had the priciest space in Brooklyn. The $700,000 budget there would get buyers only about 477 square feet of space, meaning their per-square-foot price is not far behind SoHo's at around $1,467.

The StreetEasy study determined its rankings by using all f 2019's recorded sales data to find the median recorded price per square foot in each neighborhood. Neighborhoods must have had at least 100 recorded closings throughout the year to be considered for the list.

Staten Island was not included in this analysis because of the lack of closings data, the report said.