{"id":328638,"date":"2026-08-24T19:42:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T19:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/328638\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T19:42:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T19:42:08","slug":"is-it-worth-buying-a-co-op-apartment-in-new-york-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/328638\/","title":{"rendered":"Is It Worth Buying a Co-Op Apartment in New York City?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Co-ops offer New York house hunters<\/a> one of the rarest commodities in the city that never sleeps: a discount.<\/p>\n

Across all five boroughs, co-ops were the least expensive property type in 2025, according to a Realtor.com\u00ae<\/a> analysis of listing data dating back to 2019. In Manhattan<\/a>, the markdown crossed the $1 million threshold, with a median-priced co-op selling for $895,000 versus $2.025 million for a condominium.<\/p>\n

The gap persists even at the top of the market<\/a>. In June, luxury co-ops carried a median asking price of $2,060 per square foot, compared with $2,660 for luxury resale condos and $2,979 for luxury sponsor condos, according to StreetEasy data<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But the discount isn’t free. Median co-op listing prices have shown weaker growth than other property types over the past five years, while owners can face rising maintenance costs and, in some buildings, the added risk of a ground lease<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Even so, in a city of renters<\/a>, the real calculation may be between a co-op and continuing to rent.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a city where both the rental market and the for-sale market can be brutally competitive, buying a co-op can be a real way to step into homeownership, and the stability that comes with it,\u201d says Hannah Jones, senior economist at Realtor.com\u00ae<\/a>. \u201cCondos and townhomes tend to appreciate faster, but they also carry higher price tags, putting them out of reach for many buyers.\u201d<\/p>\n

How much cheaper is a co-op?<\/p>\n

Depending on where you buy, the cost differential between co-ops and condos can be enormous.<\/p>\n

In 2025, the median co-op listing price was about 62% below the median condo price in Brooklyn<\/a> and 56% lower in Manhattan, according to data from Realtor.com. Co-ops were also roughly 55% cheaper in Queens<\/a>, 49% cheaper on Staten Island, and 31% cheaper in the Bronx<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But that affordability is a double-edged sword, according to Jones, because those lower entry points are the result of slower appreciation.<\/p>\n

\u201cAcross all five boroughs, price growth for co-ops has lagged other property types over the last five years,\u201d says Jones. \u201cAt the same time, co-ops remain by far the most affordable property type for homebuyers in the five boroughs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The difference comes down to how ownership is structured, says Sorangel Fersobe, a New York<\/a> City-based broker with Brown Harris Stevens<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a co-op, you\u2019re purchasing shares of a corporation, not actual real estate,\u201d she explains. \u201cYou\u2019re not merely buying an apartment; you\u2019re investing in a building, a financial structure, and a set of rules.”<\/p>\n

With a condo, by contrast, a buyer takes ownership of the individual unit along with an interest in the building’s common elements.<\/p>\n

And if that sounds abstract, it helps to compare the documents buyers actually receive<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Condo owners get a deed<\/a>\u2014the legal document establishing ownership of the unit. Co-op buyers don’t. Instead, they receive a stock certificate showing their ownership shares in the cooperative corporation, along with a proprietary lease giving them the legal right<\/a> to occupy a specific apartment.<\/p>\n

Is owning a co-op cheaper, too?<\/p>\n

In the second quarter of 2026, average maintenance on Manhattan co-ops that sold was $3,077 a month, or $2.83 per square foot, according to Miller Samuel’s quarterly Manhattan market analysis<\/a>. Condo common charges plus property taxes averaged $4,466, or $3.37 per square foot.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But those savings may not be guaranteed for the duration of stay, as a high-profile Manhattan ground lease renegotiation shows.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Carnegie House, a 324-unit co-op in Midtown<\/a>, had been nicknamed \u201cThousandaires\u2019 Row\u201d for its comparative affordability to nearby luxury skyscrapers on Billionaires\u2019 Row. But after an arbitration reset its annual ground rent from about $4.36 million to roughly $24 million\u2014a roughly 450% increase\u2014shareholders faced the prospect of dramatically higher maintenance costs.<\/p>\n

That now leaves owners with few options\u2014many can\u2019t afford to stay, but it\u2019s unlikely they can afford to leave either, because banks are reluctant to approve new mortgages in a building with such steep maintenance fees.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why Jonathan Miller, CEO of Miller Samuel, a New York City appraisal and consulting firm, is skeptical of the savings co-ops offer buyers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s almost no equity or wealth-building upside compared to owning a normal home,\u201d he told Realtor.com in April<\/a>. \u201cWhen homeowners sell at a capital gain, it’s because the land underneath the home has appreciated more in value than their structure has depreciated.\u201d<\/p>\n

What happens after you buy?<\/p>\n

Millers\u2019 warning bears out in the Jones\u2019 analysis of listing data, too.<\/p>\n

Between 2020 and 2025, median co-op listing prices declined in four of the five boroughs: about 9% in Manhattan, 8% in Brooklyn and Staten Island, and 6% in the Bronx. Queens was the exception, with co-op prices rising about 1%.<\/p>\n

Condos generally followed a stronger trajectory. Median condo listing prices increased in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island over the same period, while declining by about 2% in Manhattan.<\/p>\n

Of course, those trends aren’t reflective of the equity earned by individual homeowners, but they do show that the co-op market hasn’t benefited from the same price growth as competing property types in most of the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it’s pure appreciation, condos and townhomes have the edge,\u201d Jones says.<\/p>\n

Even so, co-ops offer an edge in sales.<\/p>\n

In 2025, Manhattan co-ops and condos both spent a median 118 days on the market in the Realtor.com data. In Queens, co-ops actually moved faster\u201476 days compared with 109 for condos. Brooklyn’s gap was small, at 116 versus 111 days. Co-ops took substantially longer only in the Bronx and Staten Island.<\/p>\n

Closed-sale data points in the same direction. In the fourth quarter of 2025, Manhattan co-ops that sold had spent a median 72 days on the market, compared with 78 days for condos, according to Miller Samuel and Douglas Elliman’s Manhattan sales report<\/a>. Co-op sales also increased 7% from a year earlier, compared with 3.4% for condos.<\/p>\n

It’s an important signal for potential buyers. The fact that the days on market is roughly on par between the two suggests that demand remains strong, even if co-ops appreciate at a slower rate than condos. So if and when co-op owners go to sell, they can count on a healthy pool of potential buyers.<\/p>\n

So, is buying a co-op worth it?<\/p>\n

The answer ultimately depends on what the buyer expects the home to accomplish\u2014and who you ask.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether a co-op is \u2018worth it\u2019 ultimately comes down to what you’re buying for,\u201d Jones says. \u201cIf it’s pure appreciation, condos and townhomes have the edge. But if the drivers are stability, a predictable monthly payment, and a foothold in a market that otherwise locks a lot of people out\u2014a co-op can absolutely be worth it, even if its price growth doesn’t match the rest of the market.\u201d<\/p>\n

It’s an especially pertinent point in New York City, where rents have continued rising even as the national rental market cools. While national rents declined 1.5% from a year earlier<\/a>, New York rents rose nearly 5%.<\/p>\n

A buyer with an $895,000 budget isn’t realistically choosing between an $895,000 co-op and the $2.025 million median Manhattan condo. The more relevant choice is between buying the co-op and or not buying at all\u2014and that’s when the co-op discount may matter most.<\/p>\n

That’s part of the reason Fersobe recommends them.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you have a long-term plan to reside in the building for more than five years, I highly recommend considering a co-op,\u201d she says. \u201cSome of the city\u2019s most prestigious and architecturally significant buildings are co-ops.\u201d<\/p>\n

She points to the Upper East Side, Sutton, Carnegie Hill, Central Park West, Fifth Avenue, and parts of Midtown as examples of such neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

But Miller remains skeptical.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not against buying any ground lease. You just have to be informed about what the risks are,\u201d he says, pointing to the possibility of a ground lease renegotiation making the co-op unaffordable and difficult to sell.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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