Financial District takes the top spot on StreetEasy’s neighborhoods to watch in 2026
- The annual list tracks areas that saw the greatest increase in searches by buyers and renters
- Manhattan took the #1, #2, and #4 spots for 2026 after only landing #10 on last year’s list
Unit 17P at 25 Broad St. in the Financial District is a one bedroom on the market for $985,000.
Manhattan climbed back on top of StreetEasy’s list of 10 New York City neighborhoods to watch in 2026.
The annual list tracks the areas that saw the greatest increase in searches by buyers and renters from 2024 to 2025. In a shift from last year: Manhattan regained its edge, securing the #1, #2, and #4 spots for 2026 with the Financial District, East Village, and Lower East Side.
On last year’s list, Manhattan only landed one spot, coming in 10th with Morningside Heights.
Financial District: A sleeper hit
In the top spot for 2026, the Financial District “tends to be overshadowed by its flashier neighbors like Tribeca and SoHo,” according to the report. But apartment hunters gave this neighborhood the largest year-over-year jump in searches on StreetEasy: a 46.7 percent increase from 2024 to 2025.
Once known for its office buildings and restaurants catering to the lunchtime crowd, the neighborhood has grown more residential, thanks to redevelopment projects like 25 Water St., known as SoMA, the U.S.’s largest office-to-residential conversion to date with 1,320 rental units.
Rising demand from Manhattan buyers
A bump in Manhattan real estate searches tracks with demand seen in the Manhattan sales market.
In the fourth quarter, rising sales and falling inventory for Manhattan’s condos and co-ops led to a “market [that] felt faster on the ground,” wrote Jonathan Miller, president and CEO of appraisal firm Miller Samuel and author of the Elliman Report.
In fact the Manhattan sales market has seen transactions and median sales price rise for five consecutive quarters, according to Miller.
Options in the outer boroughs
Although Manhattan gained more spots on StreetEasy’s list this year, it is still dominated by Brooklyn and Queens. That’s because there are more options for buyers and renters at new developments in the outer boroughs.
A recent report from the Real Estate Board of New York on the progress that the city is making toward its goal of adding 500,000 new housing units by 2034 underscores where development is taking place (and how little has been built so far).
Only 66,162 units have been completed since the first quarter of 2024, just 13 percent of the 500,000-unit goal. Brooklyn and Queens account for a little more than two-thirds (65 percent) of completions since the first quarter of 2024, the REBNY report said.
East Village offers a discount
In the second spot is a newcomer to StreetEasy’s list: The East Village, which is seeing strong demand from renters, reflected in a 13.4 percent rise in median asking rent to $4,560, the steepest jump on StreetEasy’s list. The area, “a hub for artistic and countercultural movements” is close to NYU and Cooper Union, and rental stock includes many prewar buildings and a small number of new developments.
Units here tend to be small (even by NYC standards) studios and one bedrooms, as per the report. Maybe that’s why buyers here can score a discount compared to other neighborhoods: the median asking price fell 6.3 percent to $1,199,000, an 11 percent discount compared to the borough median of $1,350,000.
Windsor Terrace moves up
In the third is the Brooklyn neighborhood of Windsor Terrace, which rose two spots from last year with a 44.9 percent annual increase in searches, the largest jump among Brooklyn places on the list.
The neighborhood near Prospect Park is considered a more affordable alternative to Park Slope, its neighbor to the north, with a median asking price of $1,125,000 compared to Park Slope’s $1,723,000, however listings are limited. Windsor Terrace’s median asking price reflected a 12.8 percent annual decline, the steepest drop on the list by more than double.
For rentals, Windsor Terrace saw a 7.2 percent rise in median asking rent to $3,800, just above the borough’s $3,600 median.
Housing here is largely single- and multifamily townhouses with some low-rise apartment buildings. But with the City Council’s approval of a spot rezoning for Arrow Linen, a commercial linen provider, a large new development could be built on Prospect Avenue. The City Council knocked a few stories off the plan, ultimately approving development of two, new 10-story residential buildings with a total of 250 housing units, including 100 units set aside as permanently affordable.
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