Real estate
NYC Building Types by Borough
Where each co-op and condo type actually exists, and what changes about buying it there.
Does the borough change how a co-op or condo purchase works?
Quick Answer
The transfer taxes and the mortgage recording tax are citywide, so the borough does not change the rate. What the borough changes is which building types exist there at all, which approval and financing wrinkles you meet, how often each tax is reached, and where the deed is filed.
Which building types are you actually buying in Manhattan?
- Standard co-ops in ManhattanManhattan is the borough where cooperatives still outnumber condominiums, so board practice, financing caps and post-closing liquidity requirements set the terms of the market.
- HDFC co-ops in ManhattanManhattan’s HDFC stock came out of the City taking title to abandoned buildings north of 96th Street and on the Lower East Side, then selling them to their tenants.
- Land-lease co-ops in ManhattanManhattan is not where most of the city’s ground-lease cooperatives sit, but it is where a reset bites hardest, because the appraisal at a reset is an appraisal of Manhattan land.
- Mitchell-Lama co-ops in ManhattanManhattan’s Mitchell-Lama co-ops run from Chelsea to the Lower East Side to Harlem and Roosevelt Island, and several have voted on leaving the program.
- Condops in ManhattanA condop is a condominium regime split between a commercial unit and a residential unit that is itself run as a cooperative, and Manhattan holds the stock that made the structure well known.
- Sponsor co-op units in ManhattanManhattan’s 1980s conversion wave left sponsors holding unsold shares, and buying one means no board approval but a different tax and occupancy picture.
- Standard condos in ManhattanIn Manhattan the condominium is the minority structure, which is why condos there carry a price premium over comparable co-ops and why the approval step is so light.
- New development condos in ManhattanA Manhattan new development purchase is governed by the sponsor’s offering plan, and the plan is written by the sponsor for the sponsor.
- Sponsor resale condo units in ManhattanA sponsor unit still held in a finished Manhattan condominium is sold under the original offering plan, which is why the closing costs look nothing like a resale.
- Converted building condos in ManhattanManhattan conversions include the loft buildings of SoHo, NoHo and Tribeca, where legalization history and the certificate of occupancy are the live questions.
- Townhouse condo declarations in ManhattanA Manhattan townhouse split into two or three condominium units has a homemade declaration, no management and no reserve, and the neighbors are the board.
- Mixed-use condos in ManhattanIn Manhattan the commercial unit in a mixed-use condominium is often large and valuable enough to have real power over the building’s decisions.
- Investor condo purchases in ManhattanManhattan investor purchases raise entity ownership, non-resident seller withholding and the primary-residence condition on the property tax abatement.
Which building types are you actually buying in Brooklyn?
- Standard co-ops in BrooklynBrooklyn co-ops split into two very different populations: small self-managed brownstone corporations, and the very large post-war complexes along the southern shore.
- HDFC co-ops in BrooklynBrooklyn’s HDFC buildings sit in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Crown Heights, Clinton Hill and Bushwick, and many of them are small enough that the board is the whole building.
- Land-lease co-ops in BrooklynBrooklyn’s ground-lease cooperatives sit mainly in the southern and central neighborhoods rather than the brownstone belt, and they form part of the outer-borough majority of this stock.
- Mitchell-Lama co-ops in BrooklynBrooklyn’s Mitchell-Lama co-ops cluster along the southern shore near Coney Island and Brighton Beach, and several of them have already left the program.
- Sponsor co-op units in BrooklynBrooklyn sponsor units come out of brownstone-belt and shorefront conversions, and in a small corporation the sponsor’s position can dominate the building.
- Standard condos in BrooklynBrooklyn is where most of the city’s new condominium stock has been built, so tax abatements, first-year budgets and sponsor obligations dominate the review.
- New development condos in BrooklynBrooklyn carries the largest new development pipeline outside Manhattan, and its buildings turn on tax benefit schedules, presale counts and first-year budgets.
- Sponsor resale condo units in BrooklynBrooklyn sponsor units frequently sit in small buildings where the sponsor still controls the board, the budget and the pace of the punch list.
- Converted building condos in BrooklynBrooklyn conversions run from DUMBO warehouse lofts to Bushwick factory buildings, and interim multiple dwelling history follows many of them.
- Townhouse condo declarations in BrooklynBrooklyn produces more two- and three-unit condominium declarations than anywhere else in the city, because the brownstone stock lends itself to the split.
- Mixed-use condos in BrooklynBrooklyn mixed-use condominiums line the avenue corridors, where a single ground-floor retail unit sits under a small residential condominium.
- Investor condo purchases in BrooklynA Brooklyn investor purchase in a tax-benefit building can come with a rent-regulated tenancy attached, which is the borough’s distinctive trap.
Which building types are you actually buying in Queens?
- Standard co-ops in QueensQueens holds the city’s garden co-op belt: pre-war garden apartment complexes in Jackson Heights, Sunnyside and Forest Hills, several of them inside historic districts.
- Land-lease co-ops in QueensQueens holds more ground-lease cooperative apartments than any other borough, concentrated in the northeastern neighborhoods, and it is the borough where buying the land has actually been...
- Mitchell-Lama co-ops in QueensQueens carries several of the largest Mitchell-Lama cooperatives in the city, including developments in Jamaica, Woodside and Astoria that between them hold thousands of apartments.
- Condops in QueensQueens holds almost as many co-op-within-a-condominium apartments as Manhattan does, spread from Rego Park to Astoria to the Rockaways rather than gathered into one district.
- Sponsor co-op units in QueensQueens garden co-op conversions left some of the largest remaining sponsor holdings in the city, and in several complexes the sponsor is still the biggest shareholder.
- Standard condos in QueensQueens condo stock concentrates in Long Island City, Astoria and Flushing, and the investor share of that stock is what shapes financing and building governance.
- New development condos in QueensQueens new development concentrates in Long Island City and Flushing, where investor demand and mixed-use ground floors shape both the budget and the financing.
- Sponsor resale condo units in QueensQueens sponsor units are often held as rentals in investor-heavy buildings, which makes the delivery condition and the tenancy the first questions.
- Converted building condos in QueensQueens conversions center on the former factory and warehouse buildings of Long Island City, where zoning overlays sit alongside the legalization questions.
- Townhouse condo declarations in QueensQueens two-family houses are frequently declared as condominiums, and the certificate of occupancy has to support the unit count the declaration creates.
- Mixed-use condos in QueensQueens mixed-use condominiums frequently carry medical, community facility and retail space over several floors, not just at street level.
- Investor condo purchases in QueensQueens has the deepest investor condominium market in the city, and the consequence is that the building itself is frequently unfinanceable.
Which building types are you actually buying in the Bronx?
- Standard co-ops in the BronxBronx co-ops cluster in the Riverdale and Spuyten Duyvil belt, alongside large complexes elsewhere in the borough where underlying mortgages drive maintenance.
- HDFC co-ops in the BronxThe Bronx holds a dense band of HDFC buildings through Mott Haven, Highbridge, Morrisania and the Concourse, most of them formed out of the City’s in rem holdings.
- Mitchell-Lama co-ops in the BronxThe Bronx holds the largest cooperative development in the country, along with other limited-profit developments, and it remains in the Mitchell-Lama program.
- Sponsor co-op units in the BronxBronx sponsor units sit mostly in Riverdale and Grand Concourse conversions, where the sponsor’s reserve funding record predicts the assessments a purchaser will meet.
- Standard condos in the BronxThe Bronx holds one of the largest condominium communities in the city alongside a newer wave of small buildings in Mott Haven and Port Morris.
- New development condos in the BronxBronx new development is concentrated in Mott Haven and Port Morris, in buildings small enough that a handful of closings decides whether anyone can finance one.
- Investor condo purchases in the BronxA Bronx investor condominium purchase competes against small multifamily buildings, and the comparison decides whether the condominium structure is worth its constraints.
Which building types are you actually buying on Staten Island?
- Standard co-ops on Staten IslandStaten Island is house country, and cooperatives are a small minority of the stock. That scarcity is the whole story: appraisal comparables and lender familiarity are both thin.
- Standard condos on Staten IslandStaten Island condominiums are mostly attached townhouse communities, and the borough is the one place in the city where deeds are filed with the county clerk.
- Townhouse condo declarations on Staten IslandStaten Island holds more low-rise condominium units than any other borough, almost all of it planned townhouse communities where the association owns the roads and the grounds.
Why is this list ragged rather than a full grid?
Because the stock is ragged, though not in the directions people assume. Ground-lease cooperatives are concentrated in Queens rather than Manhattan. The co-op-within-a-condominium structure sits in Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn and nowhere else. HDFC buildings sit in Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx, and Staten Island runs to attached townhouse condominium communities rather than apartment buildings. A page exists only where the pairing is real and there is something borough-specific to say.
Which recording office does each borough use?
Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx record deeds and mortgages with the Department of Finance Office of the City Register, and those four are what ACRIS indexes. Staten Island files with the Richmond County Clerk instead and is searched there, not in ACRIS. A Staten Island transfer still runs its transfer tax return through ACRIS, which is why the borough turns up in the system without its deeds being in it.
Where should you go next?
- NYC building types and how they closeThe fourteen co-op, condo and hybrid types, and what changes legally in each.
- Co-op and condo closingsHow the firm handles board packages, offering plans and flip taxes.
- Closing questions, answeredAnswer-first pages for what buyers, sellers and lenders ask.
- The NYC closings glossaryEvery term these pages use, defined.
- Title issues and how they are curedOne page per defect, with the cure and who pays.
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Legal Disclaimer: These pages are general information about New York practice. They are not legal advice, they do not account for the terms of any particular contract, building or transaction, and reading them does not create an attorney-client relationship. This is attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.