Price differential bet. coop & condo

Your question is good, but very difficult to determine, because the formula would vary widely by location (amngst other variables).

Usually Condo prices are 30% higher than coops

Sanba - I think it is closer to a 50% difference in price for a condo versus a coop. Obviously, there are a lot of variables either way.

Jonathan Miller said that he once crunched the numbers and found that condo's were 10% more expensive than coops if you account for the anemities, size and etc. I think this was done quite a few years ago and I don't really believe it. I think it is closer to 30-40% more expensive but I'm not rigoursly normalizing the data either.

I have a lot of faith in Jonathan Miller, but the 10% feels low to me too. The problem is 1) that it's tough to find co-ops and condos of the same age, so it's tough to compare amenities and technology and 2) condo square footage is fudged in such a way that condos almost always "feel" smaller.

I'd say the difference seems more on the order of 20%-25%, so the condo in the example would cost $600K-$625K.

ali r.
{downtown broker}

I'm with ali; my first thought was 20%.

I think the cost per square foot is more in the 40-50% range from looking at over 100 apatments in '06 and '07. The condos always fudged the square footage up a good 10-15%, so when you plug in the actual cost per square foot of the coop and compared it to the actual cost per square foot of the condo it was consistently in the 40-50% range. The condos were certainly newer buildings (not necessarily better-made) and they usually had more amenities, but the cost differential was real and significant for the same sized apartment.

Thanks everyone. In my example, I should have said "identical apts", which I know do not exist in reality, but this is a hypo.

As my rule of thumb, I'm going to use 30% to 45%.

I'm not looking at new developments, I'm mostly looking at PW or 1950s/60s construction, which makes my choices even narrower. {PW condos: haystack needles & hen's teeth}

I look at 2 br/2 bth condos & they're 4 room apts & the asking prices start at around $1.6ish & up. Seems a lot of $ for a little place.

I waver bet coop & condo. Think I really want the freedom of condo. Don't want a Bd to prevent/delay me from selling & if I choose to relocate temporarily, want the option to sublet. Guess freedom ain't cheap.

On the other hand, I hear that if I go w/ a coop, I need the entire purchase price in liquid assets post closing (& I don't have anyone to 'lend' me those assets until I close). So, lack of freedom ain't cheap either.

Thanks again everyone.