1. Clinton
The neighborhood otherwise known as Hell’s Kitchen is a great place to begin a starter-apartment hunt, with abundant pickings that sit around longer than usual. “You have a lot of new developments that went up there”—hence the higher median—“and they’re taking a while to find buyers,” says Song.
Number of studios and one-bedrooms: 331
Median price: $699,000
Percentage that have had price cuts: 29.31%
Average weeks on market: 45.6
Absorption rate: 28.4%
2. Washington Heights
It has fewer than half of Clinton’s offerings, but the median price point here is seriously appealing.
Number of studios and one-bedrooms: 144
Median price: $279,450
Percentage that have had price cuts: 32.64%
Average weeks on market: 30.5
Absorption rate: 34.72%
3. Upper East Side
Sellers in this bread-and-butter section of the Upper East Side (minus Carnegie Hill, Lenox Hill, and Yorkville) have so much competition, says Song, “they are going to have to make their listings more compelling.” And what’s more compelling than a price cut? A third of the sellers here have given concessions.
Number of studios and one-bedrooms: 399
Median price: $545,000
Percentage that have had price cuts: 33.08%
Average weeks on market: 38.2
Absorption rate: 29.57%
4. Lenox Hill
Another destination for buyers looking to capitalize on price dips. The average discount is the third-highest among Song’s picks: 6.5 percent off the original asking.
Number of studios and one-bedrooms: 345
Median price: $575,000
Percentage that have had price cuts: 35.07%
Average weeks on market: 33.4
Absorption rate: 33.62%
5. Turtle Bay
Though its starter apartments’ rate of absorption is on par with Manhattan’s overall, Turtle Bay requires its sellers to sit tight for quite a while before finding buyers. Location’s not sexy, either; “It’s sleepy,” says Song.
Number of studios and one-bedrooms: 254
Median price: $549,500
Percentage that have had price cuts: 37%
Average weeks on market: 42.3
Absorption rate: 36.22%
6. Murray Hill
“There’s just a lot of inventory here,” says Song, and the median price is second-lowest, behind Washington Heights. The convenient location helps, too.
Number of studios and one-bedrooms: 392
Median price: $498,500
Percentage that have had price cuts: 34.18%
Average weeks on market: 32.7
Absorption rate: 36.73%
Note: These data were custom-analyzed for New York by Sofia Song, vice-president of research at StreetEasy.com, based on the most recent market reports. “Absorption rate” refers to the percentage of apartments that are coming off the market, whether purchased or delisted; the overall Manhattan rate is 36 percent.