An array of apartments on the Upper West Side have hit the market with shockingly low price tags — think: less than $200,000 — but not just anyone can purchase the properties.
The 17 residences are being doled out by NYC’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development via an income-restricted affordable lottery at 160 W. 80th St., a pre-war building primely located mere blocks from Central Park.
The dwellings — of which only two appear to still be available, according to the lottery’s NYC Housing Connect profile — initially included 10 studios and seven one-bedrooms, according to 6sqft, which reported on the lottery when it opened early last month. For just 17 homes total, according to Bloomberg, more than 10,000 locals applied.
Available to those making 120% of the area median income (or between $73,319 and $167,760 annually, depending on household size) and with a maximum of $280,000 in assets, the studios were all priced at $173,801 with a monthly maintenance fee of $994 and the one-bedrooms at $184,990 with a monthly maintenance fee of $1,003.
In contrast, Realtor.com currently reports that the median listing price of an Upper West Side home is $1.7 million.
The studios offer between 240 and 343 square feet of space and the one-bedrooms between 466 and 544 square feet. All units are smoke-free and include air conditioning, hardwood floors, and smart controls for heating and cooling.
Only households of one to three people can apply, current homeowners are ineligible and the unit must be a winner’s primary residence. The lottery closes on Aug. 27.
After all 17 lottery units at the five-story walk-up are closed, the building is slated to be converted to an HDFC Limited-Equity Cooperative, a successful affordable homeownership program.
Other current open lotteries include a slate of one- to three-bedrooms in Astoria priced between $237,666 and $267,588 each — and a group of two- to four-bedrooms on Union Avenue in The Bronx priced between $106,475 and $137,278 apiece.