NYC neighborhoods where you can snag a home for less than $500 per square foot

In many other places within the United Sates, one could live a life a luxury for $500 per square-foot, however, such is not the case in New York City, the nation’s second most expensive city to live in. While the national average hovers around $150/square-foot, a new study released by real estate search engine and database, PropertyShark, shows that options are virtually limited to the Bronx and Staten Island, and small number of areas in Brooklyn and Queens, while in Manhattan, homes under $500/square-foot are damn near obsolete.

PropertyShark calculated the median sales by using public information found in their “homes for sale database” on residential property (including single-, two-family, co-op, and condo homes) sales that closed between January 1, 2018 and June 2018. Package deals and sales under $10,000 were excluded.

The study found that in Manhattan, every zip code except for Harlem’s 10032 zip code is priced well above $500/square-foot and even well beyond $1,000/square-foot. Brooklyn was only slightly better, with just a handful of locations offering prices below $500/square-foot. Neighborhoods in the eastern section of the borough had the most affordable options, while everything near the western waterfront was expensive.

When it came to Queens, affordable options improved, however, the study found that there still still only a select number of zip codes in to choose from and most of them were located in the northern and southern parts of the borough. “The only zip codes where you can buy a home under $500 per square foot in North Queens are 11356 (College Point), 11368 (Corona and Willets Point), 11369 (East Elmhurst), 11370 (western section of East Elmhurst), 11378 (Maspeth) and 11379 (Middle Village),” says the study. The borough’s most affordable zip code was 11692, which is the Arverne area in the Rockaways—the median price per square foot is around $199.

Unsurprisingly, the Bronx and Staten Island were the two boroughs where you can purchase a home for under $500/square-foot in every zip code. In the Bronx, it’s easy to spend no more than around $200/square-foot and even less in neighborhoods like Hunts Point, Longwood, and Foxhurst. Staten Island was found to have the most budget-friendly listings and price per-square-foot are just above $300 in the bulk of the borough’s neighborhoods.

• Where Can You Buy a Home Under $500/SF in NYC? [PropertyShark]