The Best New York Neighborhoods for Your First Home

New York City’s real estate market is favorable to buyers right now, making this an opportune moment for people who have managed to save enough for a down payment to purchase their first home.

But where to look? Potential buyers may find some guidance in a new study by StreetEasy that determined which neighborhoods had the most homes available with list prices that were affordable to first-timer buyers earning an average income. (The site used all of its local listings from 2018 to build the study.) After all, a larger pool of affordable homes means a greater chance of completing a purchase.

To establish what was affordable, the study calculated the median monthly income of New Yorkers aged 25 to 44 — the age range of most first-time buyers — to be $5,867, and capped monthly housing costs at 40 percent of that, or $2,347. It assumed a 20 percent down payment and a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage at 4.06 percent, and factored in monthly taxes and common charges.

StreetEasy researchers reran their calculations for this week’s chart, providing The New York Times with updated data and an expanded list of neighborhoods. Below, the 15 neighborhoods with the most homes that were affordable to first-time buyers in 2018.