The numbers
What a house really costs to buy
Sixteen jurisdictions, one ten-million house, and a door that costs anything from sixty thousand to nearly two million. The acquisition cost, line by line.
Manhattan · United States
New York
The deepest apartment market in the world, with a mansion tax that climbs to almost four per cent, co-operative boards that can refuse a buyer without a reason, and a price per square metre at the top that no other city reaches. Manhattan is the one market where the desk cares which kind of building.
The Ranesta Index
€25,000 to 50,000
Prime band, per m²
€90,000
Trophy, per m²
3.0 to 4.0%
Gross yield
45%
Sold off-market
4.0%
Cost to acquire
1.6%
Cost to hold, a year
Editorial estimate of prime asking bands, September 2026. Not a valuation. Typical entry €4.0 m, trophy from €100 m. Prime marketing time about 180 days.
Where exactly
Tribeca and the West Village
The lofts and the townhouses downtown: the market of the last twenty years, where finance and film money bought whole floors of former warehouses and the townhouses on the West Village streets.
The Upper East Side: Fifth and Park
The pre-war co-operatives along the park, with boards that interview, limestone lobbies and apartments that were built as houses. The address of record, and the least liquid.
Billionaires' Row and the new towers
The supertalls on 57th Street and the towers on the Hudson: condominiums with no board, a view of the park from the ninetieth floor and the highest prices in the city.
The Upper West Side, Brooklyn Heights and the townhouse markets
Central Park West and Riverside Drive on the west; the brownstones of the Heights across the river. The family markets, with prices a third below the east side for the same rooms.
The short version
Which kind of building
In Manhattan the first question is not where but what. A co-operative is shares in a corporation and a proprietary lease; the board interviews the buyer, reads their finances and may refuse without giving a reason, and most boards will not accept a non-resident or a purchase through a company. A condominium is real property with no such board. Foreign buyers, family offices and anyone who values privacy buy condominiums, and the great pre-war co-operatives on Fifth and Park remain a market of Americans who pass the interview.
The costs are the reverse of Europe: cheap to enter, apart from the mansion tax, and expensive to hold. Property tax and the building's common charges run to one and a half per cent of value a year, more in the new towers with their staffs and their pools. A twenty-million apartment on Billionaires' Row can cost four hundred thousand a year to hold.
The market has more depth than any other. Two thousand sales a year above three million, a professional class of brokers and lawyers, and a price for every possible view. Off-market is forty-five per cent at the top, driven by the townhouses and the pre-war floors whose owners regard a listing as an indignity.
Worth knowing
Mansion tax
Paid by the buyer: 1 per cent at one million rising in steps to 3.9 per cent at twenty-five million and above
New development
The buyer usually pays the transfer taxes on a sponsor sale, about 2 per cent more
Co-op or condo
Co-operatives are shares in a corporation with a board that must approve the buyer; condominiums are real property
Annual costs
Property tax and common charges of one to two per cent of value a year; co-ops pay both inside the maintenance
Capital gains
Federal 20 per cent plus 3.8 per cent and New York state tax on the gain; withholding for foreign sellers
Foreign buyers
Welcome in condominiums; most co-operative boards will not accept a non-resident
Who is buying
Americans above all, then buyers from everywhere with a reason to be in New York: Europeans, Latin Americans, Asians, Israelis and the Gulf. The supertalls were built for the world; the co-operatives were built for the Social Register and still know it.
What the desk is working on
Full floors in the new towers with a park view, townhouses in the West Village, and pre-war condominiums on the park for buyers who cannot or will not face a co-op board. The desk works with a New York attorney from the first call.
Buying notes
A contract with a ten per cent deposit after the lawyers have completed diligence on the building; no cooling-off. Board package and interview for a co-operative, then closing. Buyer's costs of four to six per cent including the mansion tax; more in a new development. Common charges and the building's financials are read before the offer, because a building with a bad balance sheet is a bad apartment at any price.
The hotspot vote
In Manhattan
Questions buyers ask
Condo, unless you are an American who intends to live there, is prepared for an interview and wants the great pre-war addresses. Boards can refuse, do refuse, and rarely accept a foreign buyer or a company. The condominium towers exist for that reason.
A buyer's tax that starts at one per cent at one million and climbs in steps to 3.9 per cent at twenty-five million and above, on the whole price. On a sponsor sale the buyer also carries the transfer taxes. The acquisition instrument has the steps built in.
Property tax and common charges of one to two per cent a year, paid monthly. The new towers are the most expensive to run; the pre-war condominiums the least. The holding instrument with the Manhattan profile shows the difference.
Every closed price is public record within weeks, which is unusual on this list. What is not public is the top of the market before it closes: the townhouses and the pre-war floors move privately, and the desk sees them through its New York partners.
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