UES Is One Of NYC's Best Places For Young Home Buyers: New Study

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Despite the stereotypes that paint it as a wealthy enclave, the Upper East Side is in fact one of the city's most accessible neighborhoods for first-time homebuyers, according to a new study.

The study, by the real estate website StreetEasy, searched for listings across the city that would be affordable to people ages 25 to 44 who earn the city's median annual income: $70,406. Most new buyers in the city are millennials who are about 37 years old, according to a survey the website conducted.

Homes considered "affordable" by the study cost a median of $352,780, factoring in a 20 percent down payment and other maintenance fees. StreetEasy then searched for sale listings between June and August 2021.

The Upper East Side ended up sixth on the top-10 ranking: one of just two new additions to the list since the website last studied the topic in 2019.

Volume, not cost

The Upper East Side cracked the list for its sheer number of affordable listings rather than its overall cheapness, the city found. Only five percent of Upper Eat Side homes qualified as affordable in the study, compared to 60 percent in some other neighborhoods.

But thanks to its size and density, the Upper East Side has hundreds of available homes, including many that became available in 2021. Between the Upper East Side and Midtown East, there were 322 homes on the market this summer that were affordable for average-earning buyers.

Apartments on the Upper East Side that met the "affordable" criteria included a three-room unit on East 83rd Street between Third and Lexington avenues ($390,000) and a studio on East 85th Street between First and Second ($288,000).

Here's the full StreetEasy list of affordable neighborhoods for first-time buyers:

1. Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn
2. Forest Hills, Queens
3. Riverdale, Bronx
4. Jackson Heights, Queens
5. Midtown East, Manhattan
6. Upper East Side, Manhattan (new this year)
7. Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
8. Flushing, Queens (new this year)
9. Rego Park, Queens
10. Midwood, Brooklyn

Read more about the study here.