Emily Myers

There's a new financing option available to New Yorkers wanting to buy an apartment. Unison, headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, is the largest firm offering this kind of funding and has recently helped buyers in Brooklyn and Harlem get on the property ladder.

Local opposition has put the breaks on a NYCHA plan to lease an East Williamsburg site to private developers for market-rate housing and a homeless shelter on the Upper West Side has been given the go-ahead by a judge who threw out a lawsuit fighting it.

It is possible to find a three-bedroom condo under $2 million in New York City but rare to find one that's 2,215 square feet, has three and a half bathrooms, plus a deeded parking space and is still under the $2 million mark—which makes this condo, 120 North 7th St., #1E all the more interesting. The median sales price for a three-bedroom unit in Williamsburg is $2,395,000 and this apartment is well below that at $1,850,000. 

This three bedroom, 61 Eastern Parkway #4D, in Brooklyn's Prospect Heights is on the market for $1,495,000, which is below the median sales price of $1,860,000 for similar-sized units in the area. The apartment is newly renovated and the virtually staged photos show off its practical layout, high ceilings, and hardwood floors.

You may be tempted to wade into the NYC market: The combination of low-interest rates and falling prices makes it an ideal time to buy. But before you head to your mortgage broker, consider that there are perfectly good reasons why buying in New York City doesn’t make sense; including crippling closing costs, no certainty on a return on your investment, federal tax changes not benefiting buyers, and the risks of tying your liquidity up in a mortgage.

A developer in DUMBO sets his sights on providing smaller units priced below the neighborhood average.