Is it cheaper to rent or buy in New York right now?
Renting, if the renter invests the difference. The typical New York, NY home is worth $735,075 and rents for $3,615 a month (+4.7% and +4.3% over the past year), a price-to-rent ratio of 16.9 against 15.8 nationally. Run through our model with 20% down at 6.5%, New York's property tax and transaction costs, and a 10-year stay, renting ahead by about $156,000 . The rent that flips it is $4,467 a month (+24% against the typical rent).
Month to month, owning the typical home costs about $5,267 — principal and interest of $3,717 plus tax, insurance and maintenance — against $3,630 for the rent and renter's insurance. The verdict is not that monthly gap; it is what each person is worth after 10 years, with the home sold, selling costs paid, taxes settled and both sides' invested surpluses counted.
| Measure | New York, NY | United States |
|---|---|---|
| Typical home value (Zillow ZHVI) | $735,075 | $368,697 |
| Typical rent (Zillow ZORI) | $3,615/mo | $1,948/mo |
| Price-to-rent ratio | 16.9 | 15.8 |
| Home values, 1 year / 5 years | +4.7% / +27.6% | +1.2% / +20.3% |
| Rents, 1 year / 5 years | +4.3% / +37.5% | +2.6% / +23.9% |
| Verdict, 10 years at 6.5% (local costs) | renting ahead by about $156,000 | renting ahead by about $44,000 |
| Verdict at the site defaults | renting ahead by about $103,000 | renting ahead by about $44,000 |
| Rent at which buying wins | $4,467 | $2,190 |
| Break-even year | none within 10 years | none within 10 years |
What would flip the verdict in New York?
Rates, mostly, and the ladder shows how far they would have to move. Each row re-runs the typical New York, NY home and rent at that mortgage rate with the local costs:
| Mortgage rate | Verdict after 10 years | Rent at which buying wins |
|---|---|---|
| 5.0% | Rent +$44,000 | $3,853 |
| 5.5% | Rent +$81,000 | $4,055 |
| 6.0% | Rent +$118,000 | $4,260 |
| 6.5% (model default) | Rent +$156,000 | $4,467 |
| 7.0% | Rent +$194,000 | $4,676 |
| 7.5% | Rent +$233,000 | $4,887 |
| 8.0% | Rent +$272,000 | $5,100 |
The other lever is the rent you actually compare against. Zillow's typical rent covers every rental type, apartments included; if the home you would buy rents for more than $4,467 a month, buying is already winning on these assumptions. The price-to-rent ratio calculator turns your own listing into the same answer.
What is different about buying in New York?
The transaction taxes, which are among the heaviest in the country and fall on both sides of the closing table. A buyer borrowing $500,000 or more in the five boroughs pays a mortgage recording tax of 1.925% of the loan; a seller pays the state’s 0.4% transfer tax plus the city’s 1.425% on any sale over $500,000; and at $1,000,000 the buyer’s 1% mansion tax starts. On the typical home above, those are real money on the way in and the way out — which is why this page’s closing and selling costs are higher than the site defaults, and why the break-even year here arrives later than the ratio alone would suggest.
Why is the property tax preset 1.19%, when New Yorkers pay less?
Because a new purchase starts at the uncapped rate and an old one has been capped for years. The city assesses a one- to three-family home at 6% of its market value and taxes that at 19.843%, which works out to 1.19% of value — but assessed values may not rise more than 6% a year or 20% over five years, so long-held homes carry effective rates well below that: the Census medians for Kings and Queens counties are around 0.7–0.9%. The model uses the buyer’s starting rate, which is the honest figure for someone deciding today, and grows it at the site’s default 2% a year, comfortably inside the cap. Co-ops and condos are assessed under different rules (tax class 2), and their monthly charges belong in the calculator’s HOA field; buying a condo vs renting shows what those charges do to the verdict.
What does the metro figure hide?
The metro is not the city. Zillow’s “New York, NY” series covers the whole New York–Newark–Jersey City area — the five boroughs, Long Island, Westchester and northern New Jersey — so the typical home and rent above blend a Manhattan co-op with a New Jersey colonial. Property taxes in the suburban counties run roughly double the city’s rate, which makes the verdict there worse for buying than this page shows, while Brooklyn and Queens owners on capped assessments do better. The ratio is a screen; put the actual listing and the actual comparable rent into the calculator, with the taxes on the listing sheet, before treating any of this as a decision.
What this page assumes for New York
The site defaults, with the inputs below changed to New York's own figures. Each one is sourced at the bottom of the page; the "Run it" link carries all of them into the calculator so you can change any of them.
| Input | New York | Site default |
|---|---|---|
| Property tax, year one | 1.19% of price | 1.1% |
| Property tax growth | 2% a year | 2% |
| Buyer's closing costs | 4.9% of price | 3% |
| Selling costs at the end | 7.8% of value | 6% |
| Home insurance | $2,500 a year | $2,500 |
- Property tax 1.19% of price: New York City's tax class 1 (one- to three-family homes) rate of 19.843% for tax year 2026, applied to the 6% assessment ratio, with no cap applied - the caps (6% a year, 20% over five years) only slow increases after you buy. Co-ops and condos are tax class 2 and assessed on different rules.
- Buyer's closing costs 4.9%: the site's 3% default plus the borrower's share of the mortgage recording tax on a New York City loan of $500,000 or more, 1.925% (the 2.175% total less the 0.25% special additional tax the lender pays). The 1% mansion tax applies only at $1,000,000 and above, so it is not in the typical purchase.
- Selling costs 7.8%: the site's 6% default plus the New York State transfer tax of $2 per $500 (0.4%) and the New York City real property transfer tax of 1.425% on residential sales over $500,000, both paid by the seller.
Everything else — 20% down, a 30-year fixed at 6.5%, 3% appreciation, 2.5% rent growth, 7% investment return, the standard deduction — is the national default, and the direction of each simplification is stated on the metro hub. State income tax is not modelled. A typical home is not a typical rental: the ratio is a market-level screen, and the calculator is for the actual house and the actual comparable rent.
Run your own numbers
Open the calculator with New York, NY's typical home, rent and local costs loaded, then replace them with the listing and the rental you are actually weighing. Every figure on this page is computed at build by the same open-source engine as the calculator, covered by 188 automated tests and documented on the methodology page; home values and rents are Zillow Research's public series for the month ending 2026-08-31.
