Phrases like “proximity to the park” and “just steps away from the park” get tossed around a lot in listing descriptions, but how does the verbiage translate to value and how much you’ll actually pay for your park-front property? StreetEasy dug into the data and found some interesting takeaways.
What You’ll Pay: Pick a Side
Not surprisingly, what side of the park you’re on makes a big difference. The median sales price for homes within a two-block radius of Central Park South was $3M, nearly 145 percent more than it was for homes within a two-block radius of West 110th Street on the northern perimeter of the park.
The price disparity between homes on the east and west sides of the park was smaller, but still quite significant. The median sales price for properties on the east side of the park was $3M — 85 percent more than it was for homes on the west side of the park despite the many luxury buildings along Central Park West like the San Remo, the Dakota and 15 CPW.
Likewise, in Brooklyn, real estate value surrounding Prospect Park ranges depending on what side you’re on, but the disparities were slightly less extreme. You can expect to pay the most for park-front property on the west side of the park in the blocks surrounding Prospect Park West in Park Slope. The median sales price there was 60 percent more than prices along the southern perimeter of the park near Parkside Avenue. Property values for homes near the northern tip around Eastern Parkway and Grand Army Plaza fell in the middle of the range. The median sales price on the north side was 17 percent more than on the southwest side of the park, but still 30 percent less than prices on the west side.
How Does Proximity to the Park Stack Up Against the Neighborhood at Large?
On the east side of Central Park, you’ll definitely be paying a premium for those park-front addresses. The median sales prices for neighborhoods along the east side of Central Park are far less than the median for park-front real estate.
In Lenox Hill, the Upper East Side and Carnegie Hill, the median sale prices are $1.1M, $1.3M and $1.5M, respectively. Those neighborhoods are certainly pricey, but their prices pale in comparison to the $3M price tag park-front property commands along the east side of the park.
Interestingly, park-front property along the western edge of Central Park is not a whole lot more expensive than property deeper into the Upper West Side. The last recorded median sales price for the Upper West Side was $1.1M, just 8 percent less than prices along Central Park West and the two blocks surrounding it.
How much would you pay to be steps away from the park? (Source: Eric Gross via Flickr Creative Commons)
Brooklyn Bucking the Trend
Over in Brooklyn, the comparison between the median sales prices for homes along the western edge of Prospect Park and homes deeper into Park Slope is surprising. As it turns out, the median sales price in Park Slope was $1,029,500, nearly 14 percent more than park-front property. It is hard to say objectively why property might be more expensive further from the park, but one factor could be that the homes along Prospect Park West tend to be co-ops in large apartment buildings as opposed the single-family brownstones that make up most of the housing stock on the blocks leading up to the park.
On the northern edge of Prospect Park, prices follow the same pattern. In the two-block radius that surrounds Grand Army Plaza and Eastern Parkway, the median sales price is $667K. But when you look at the median sales price for Prospect Heights at large, it is actually substantially more expensive.
At the last time of recording, the median sale price for Prospect Heights was $1.8M — 93 percent more expensive than park-front property. Determining the why and wherefore of this is difficult, but again it could be attributed to the difference in housing stock. The homes along Eastern Parkway tend to be older co-ops, whereas homes in Prospect Heights range from large, single-family brownstones to new condos.
18 Prospect Park West, one of the few single family residences directly facing the park. (Source: Michael Padwee via Flickr Creative Commons)
Along Prospect Park Southwest on the southern perimeter of the park, this counterintuitive price pattern holds true. The median sales price for park-front property was less expensive than it was for property further away from the park as you move deeper into Windsor Terrace. The last recorded median sales price for Windsor Terrace was $695K, 17 percent more expensive than the median sales price for homes within a two-block radius of the southwestern edge of the park.
ThIs pattern held true along the southern-most edge of the park near Parkside Avenue. There addresses that promised proximity to the park had a median sales price 4 percent less than homes further from the park in the surrounding neighborhood of Prospect Park South where the median sales price is $475K.
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