There is a way to buy a New York City apartment for less than $10,000—and that is not mistakenly leaving out two zeroes.
Nor is this a rental. This is homeownership—an actual Big Apple apartment for less money than it would take to buy a small plot of land in the middle of nowhere.
The deal is being offered through the city’s housing lottery system, which offers New York City residents with qualifying incomes homeownership and rental opportunities at below-market rates.
What’s the catch? Well, there are a few. First, to qualify to buy an apartment at this remarkable price, there are strict income requirements. Your income must be between $45,000 to $142,531.92 for a household of one to two people.
Then you must be OK with doing without swanky building amenities like a fitness center, a golf simulator room, or a dog-washing station.
This building comes with one listed amenity: a laundry room. (As of 2024, a building swimming pool had been “closed for years,” according to an article.)
Nor will you be living in the West Village or Chelsea. Or even Manhattan. You will be in an area of the Bronx called Castle Hill.
But even this ZIP code has a median price tag of $366,000, according to Realtor.com® data. So if you win a $9,600 apartment through this housing lottery, you’d be getting a steep discount on market prices.
Which leads us to another caveat. You must be OK with residing in the Jamie Towers, a 620-unit Mitchell-Lama co-op building. Mitchell-Lama buildings are state-run affordable housing developments.
A total of 269 state-supervised Mitchell-Lama developments, with over 105,000 apartments, were built under the program. In exchange for low-interest mortgage loans and real property tax exemptions, the program requires limitations on profit, income limits for tenants, and supervision by the Division of Housing and Community Renewal.
The Jamie Towers is a “Naturally-Occurring Retirement Community,” which consists of 60% senior citizens. (You do not have to be a senior citizen to live there.)
And this particular development has been the source of some past complaints.
In an audit released in June 2023, the office of the State Comptroller found evidence of financial mismanagement and “hazardous conditions” at the Jamie Towers, including damaged ceilings and mold-covered playground mats. (Realtor.com has contacted the new Jamie Towers management company for comment.)
If you’re thinking, “There has to be even more of a catch,” you’d be correct. The $9,600 co-op is a studio. If you want a larger apartment, you’ll have to pay more and have additional income requirements.
A one-bedroom has a purchase price of $12,600, and you must make $53,000 to $194,187.24. A two-bedroom costs $15,600, and your income must be between $62,000 and $238,501.80. A three-bedroom (with a terrace!) runs $20,100, and you must make $90,000 to $281,923.20.
Yes, a household income of nearly $300,000 still qualifies you for certain low- to moderate-income housing. This is New York City, after all.
Then we get to yet another caveat. The co-op building’s monthly maintenance charges are fairly steep, ranging from $959.14 to $2,443.20. In 2024, residents were hit with a 40.4% per-room increase.
The last caveat? Should you qualify, your name will be added to a wait list that goes back to 2016. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you will be waiting for a decade for your shot at a cheap apartment. Your name could come up tomorrow—or never.
As for resale value, according to the New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR), which supervises the wait list for the Mitchell-Lama developments, if, in the future, you decide to sell your pad, you don’t just call a real estate broker like you normally would. The housing company that runs Jamie Towers will handle your resale.
And you may see little to no profit from price appreciation. According to HCR, your price will depend on a formula that will be calculated when you decide to sell—and the sale needs to be to another person on the wait list. It will not be the market value.
After all, the point here isn’t to make you a profit, but to keep these units affordable.
The Castle Hill neighborhood
There are some upsides to the deal. The Castle Hill neighborhood, like most in the city, is bursting with retail, restaurants and watering holes, event spaces, public transport via bus and subway lines, and several parks.
The largest, Pugsley Creek Park, is 84 acres of nature, boasting hiking trails, bike paths, exercise facilities, a basketball court, golf links, tidal marshlands, and canoeing/kayaking access to the East River. The park has a high 4.4 review average on Google.
“This park truly makes you feel like you’re in the middle of nowhere. Thick trees and the sounds of nature really add to the ambiance,” says one review.
Then there is the Bronx’s only public beach—Orchard Beach, a 115-acre beach park, which is only 7 miles away. Here, enjoy snack bars, playgrounds, picnic areas, 26 courts for various sports, and swimming in Pelham Bay.
Additionally, the glittering mecca of Manhattan is only an hour away from Castle Hill by public transport.
Not bad for $10,000. If you’d like to enter the lottery for this co-op, fill out an application here.
