What you’re really getting for your tiny $1M apartment

Naturally, the answer is more about financial stability than square footage

A tiny NYC apartment
A tiny NYC apartment

As we all know, a million bucks in one city doesn’t necessarily equal a million bucks somewhere else. And New York City would fall into that “somewhere else” category.

Taking A Broader View Of The New York City Market
For those looking at purchasing a home in New York City, the broader economic data shows great news on the one hand, and a disappointing reality on the other.

chart-mfool

First of all, the New York City area real estate market has performed quite well over the past 10 years. The Case-Shiller Home Price Index for the city has consistently outperformed other major U.S. metro areas since the real estate bubble imploded. That means home prices did not fall quite as far as those in Miami, Phoenix or elsewhere. That’s the good news for homeowners in NYC.

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However, other major metropolitan areas have rebounded much more strongly since 2012. As the chart below demonstrates, the Case-Shiller 20-City Composite Home Price Index is more than double the price appreciation in New York City.

Bringing The Data Together
So what do you get when you buy property in New York City? More than anything else, you get stability. The nation’s most populous city has a robust real estate market, with plenty of demand driving prices above national averages and keeping them there when problems arise in the general real estate market.

Sure, you might have to fork over $1 million or more just to buy a tiny one-bedroom apartment, but at least you can rest easy knowing your equity in the home is more stable than if you put your hard-earned dollars into a home in another market.