New York

Where new buildings rise

Downtown West

Tribeca, the West Village and the blocks along the Hudson: low streets, converted warehouses and new buildings on the river. One of the four areas that hold most of the coming launches.

The Upper East Side

Prewar avenues and townhouse blocks between Central Park and the East River. New buildings are rarer here and usually replace older ones, so each launch is measured against a long record of resale prices.

14th to 34th Street, east and west

Chelsea and West Chelsea along the High Line, the Flatiron District and Gramercy. Mid-size new buildings with a broad price range, and a large share of the fourth-quarter pipeline.

The Upper West Side

Riverside Drive, West End Avenue and Central Park West, where new buildings tend toward larger layouts and steady, unshowy absorption.

Midtown and Central Park South

The supertall towers south of the park, at the top of the market. Prices here move on a small number of very large sales.

Lower Manhattan

The Financial District, where older office towers have been converted into condominiums. A few large conversions launched four or more years ago still hold much of Manhattan’s unsold new inventory.²

The Hamptons

Southampton, Bridgehampton, Sagaponack, East Hampton, Amagansett, Sag Harbor and Montauk. New construction here usually means a single house built by a builder or developer, sold by contract rather than under an offering plan. Buyers pay the Peconic Bay Region transfer tax on top of the state’s, and the warranty and the certificate of occupancy matter as much as the design.

How a purchase works here

A new Manhattan condominium is sold through an offering plan the Attorney General has accepted for filing. Before you are bound, you get either three business days to review the plan or seven days after signing to rescind. Every dollar of your deposit stays in escrow until closing, and the plan cannot take effect until 15 percent of the units are under contract. At closing, many plans pass the sponsor’s transfer taxes to the buyer, and the mansion tax runs from 1 to 3.9 percent depending on price.

Our buyer guides cover each step: buying pre-construction in New York and buying new construction in New York, from escrow and rescission to closing costs and the Hamptons tax.

What a developer works with here

• No offer before the plan. Under Part 20 of the Attorney General’s regulations (opens in a new tab), no unit may be offered or sold until the Attorney General accepts the offering plan for filing, so the marketing calendar starts with the filing.
• Deposits that cannot build. Deposits stay the buyer’s money until closing. Construction is funded by equity and debt alone, which makes the 15 percent threshold and the lender’s pre-sale requirement the first milestones.
• Dates and budgets that bind. If the first closing slips 12 months or more past the plan’s date, or revised budget projections rise 25 percent or more, buyers must be offered rescission. Realistic schedules protect the sales already made.
• Carrying unsold units. The sponsor pays common charges and taxes on every unsold unit, so pace of sales is a cost, not only a target.
• Selling Florida to New Yorkers. An out-of-state offering marketed to New York residents generally needs a New York filing or an exemption first. The Attorney General’s advertising guidelines (PDF, opens in a new tab) describe how a website can avoid targeting New York until then. Plan for it before the first New York event.

Costs and rules at a glance

State transfer tax

$2 per $500 of the price, $3.25 per $500 on a New York City home of $3 million or more. A seller’s tax, often passed to the buyer in sponsor sales

City transfer tax

1 percent up to $500,000, 1.425 percent above, on a New York City home

Mansion tax

1 percent from $1 million anywhere in the state, paid by the buyer; in the city, a supplemental 0.25 to 2.9 percent from $2 million

Peconic Bay tax

2 percent above an exemption in five East End towns, paid by the buyer, with a further half percent in most of them since April 2023

Deposits

Held in escrow until closing, with interest credited to the buyer

Warranty

For a new house or a unit in a building of five stories or fewer: one year for workmanship, two for systems, six for material defects

A launch, step by step

1. Before filing. Pricing, unit mix, plans and amenities are set against the buildings a buyer will compare, and the offering plan is drafted around them. No unit may be offered until the plan is accepted.
2. Acceptance. The Attorney General accepts the plan for filing. Marketing begins, and purchase agreements are signed with their review or rescission period.
3. Effectiveness. At 15 percent of units under contract, the plan can be declared effective. Deposits stay in escrow throughout.
4. Construction. Amendments keep buyers informed of prices, dates and budgets. Weekly reporting shows whether pace meets the lender’s threshold.
5. Closings. The first closing follows the certificate of occupancy; the sponsor carries the unsold units until they close.

What we do here

For developers, we advise before launch on pricing, unit mix, plans and amenities, the buyer profile and the launch strategy, then report on sales every Monday against the plan. For a small circle of buyers at the very top of the market, we advise on what to buy and when, in Manhattan, on the East End and in South Florida, with early access to new buildings before they launch, when we can. 

Sources

1. Third-quarter 2026 Manhattan new development data from a New York development marketing firm, as reported in Commercial Observer, October 7, 2026 (opens in a new tab).
2. The same data, as reported in CRE Daily, October 7, 2026 (opens in a new tab).

General information only, not legal, tax or investment advice. Figures are the latest we could verify from the sources above, and markets move. Review any purchase or project with a New York real estate attorney.