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Manhattanites spend more on down payments than most Americans do on a home

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It’s takes $500,000 on average for a down payment in Manhattan while the average U.S. home price is about $300,000

Remember that dream-crushing report from August that made it clear for many New Yorkers that home ownership is never going to happen? Well, there’s new data that will destroy whatever hope may have remained.

Real estate website PropertyShark compiled data on how much people are dropping on down payments for homes throughout the city and the numbers aren’t pretty. According to their findings, the median down payment for a home purchase in Manhattan was a staggering $500,000—and what’s worse, this isn’t even for luxury apartments.

Oh, and just in case you didn’t feel depressed enough yet, there’s this: the average price of a home in the U.S. is just $301,000, according to PropertyShark’s data.

When talking luxe homes, the median down payment in Manhattan soared to a mind-boggling $3.15 million and in 2016, only 45 percent of Manhattan buyers took out a loan to buy their home.

The numbers for the outer boroughs weren’t as devastating, but still are out of reach for many New Yorkers. Here are the takeaways:

  • The average down payment for a home in the Bronx was $79,000.
  • In Brooklyn and Queens, the amounts for down payments climbed as high as $226,000 and $188,000, respectively.
  • In 2016, only 37 percent of condos and houses purchased in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx were cash-only transactions.

So there you have it: If your dream is to own a home in Manhattan, be prepared to spend almost $200,000 more on the down payment alone than what you would pay for an entire house in many other places in the U.S. (Of course, then you’d have to live outside of New York—and who wants that?)