Home prices in New York and NYC: median value and trend

What the median home value is

The Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) asks owners: “About how much do you think this house and lot, apartment, or mobile home (and lot, if owned) would sell for if it were for sale?” The median value in table B25077 is the middle answer among all owner-occupied homes in an area.

This is the owner’s own estimate. It is not a sale price, not an appraisal and not a list price. It covers every home that owners occupy, including homes bought decades ago, so it describes the existing stock rather than what buyers paid this year.

Co-ops and condos. New York City has many co-op apartments. The ACS question says “apartment” and the Census definition of value names houses, mobile homes and condominium units. The Census documentation we read does not break out co-ops separately, so we cannot say how many co-op owners are in the figures. What we can say is that the median mixes houses, condos and apartments, and that the table does not tell you the price of one type. The Attorney General explains how the two ownership forms differ on our page about buying a home in New York City.

The latest one-year ACS estimates cover 2024. The Census Bureau plans to release the 2025 one-year estimates on October 29, 2026, so the figures below will change at that point.

How prices have moved: the FHFA index

The ACS gives a level. To see the trend, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) publishes a House Price Index built on repeat sales: it compares the prices of the same single-family homes each time they sell. FHFA’s flagship index uses seasonally adjusted, purchase-only data from mortgages bought or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Because it follows single-family homes with such mortgages, it says little about co-ops, which are priced and financed differently.

The latest quarterly release, published August 25, 2026, covers the second quarter of 2026.

Source: FHFA House Price Index, purchase-only, seasonally adjusted, quarterly files for states, metro areas and the U.S. Changes calculated by Payotte from the published index values.

New York prices rose faster than the nation’s over the past year, and over five years the state gained 44.0% against 33.4% for the United States. The metro division includes parts of New Jersey as well as New York City, so it is not the same area as the city itself.

A worked example

Take a home worth $500,000 in the second quarter of 2021. If it had followed the New York–Jersey City–White Plains index exactly, it would have been worth about $708,500 in the second quarter of 2026 (+41.7%). Over the last year alone, it would have gained about $26,900 (+5.6%). A single home can move very differently from the index: location, condition and renovations matter more than the average.

How to use these figures when buying

• Use the ACS median for budgets and comparisons between places. It is the only measure here that gives a dollar level for the state, the county and the city with the same method.
• Use the FHFA index for the direction of prices. It tells you whether prices in the area are rising or falling, not what a given home is worth.
• For a specific home, look at recent sales and the appraisal. Your lender orders an appraisal before it approves the loan; see our guide to home appraisal costs.

Closing costs come on top of the price. Our New York closing costs guide explains who pays what, and our page on buying a home in New York City applies these numbers to the city, including property tax. Property tax rules are in our New York property tax guide. First-time buyers can also check the New York first-time buyer programs.

Method and dataset

ACS median value. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 1-Year Estimates, vintage 2024 (released in 2025), table B25077 “Median Value (Dollars)”, estimate with margin of error. Universe: owner-occupied housing units. Geographies: United States (0100000US), New York (0400000US36), New York city (1600000US3651000), New York–Newark–Jersey City, NY-NJ metro area (310M700US35620), and the counties Bronx (36005), Kings (36047), New York (36061), Queens (36081), Richmond (36085), Nassau (36059) and Suffolk (36103), each with the prefix 0500000US. Values were read through the data.census.gov access API on October 13, 2026, one geography per request. The definition of value comes from the ACS 2024 Subject Definitions. The 2025 one-year estimates are scheduled for October 29, 2026.

FHFA index. FHFA House Price Index, quarterly purchase-only, seasonally adjusted series, files hpi_po_state.txt (New York), hpi_po_metro.txt (New York–Jersey City–White Plains, NY-NJ metro division, code 35614) and hpi_po_us_and_census.txt (USA), release of August 25, 2026, data through the second quarter of 2026. Index values used: New York 414.05 (Q2 2025), 297.70 (Q2 2021) and 428.68 (Q2 2026); New York–Jersey City–White Plains 443.81, 330.66 and 468.55; United States 426.58, 326.58 and 435.69. Changes are the ratio of the Q2 2026 value to the earlier value, minus one. The U.S. one-year result (+2.1%) matches the figure in FHFA’s release. FHFA plans its next quarterly release, with third-quarter 2026 data, on November 24, 2026.