541 West 133rd Street, #1 (Douglas Elliman Real Estate)
In New York City, marked-down apartment listings naturally attract a lot of attention. After all, why would anyone price an apartment hundreds of thousands of dollars below local market averages? You might assume these spectacular bargains are priced below-market because they were once crime scenes, but this is highly unlikely. With few exceptions, in New York City, severely underpriced units are Housing Development Fund Corporation (HDFC) units.
While HDFCs present dramatically low sticker prices, calling them “affordable” might be a stretch considering the highly specific conditions under which they may be bought and sold. In fact, over time, HDFC units have paradoxically become the most and least affordable housing option on the New York City housing market. This article tackles four questions frequently asked about HDFC units.
While HDFCs present dramatically low sticker prices, calling them “affordable” might be a stretch considering the highly specific conditions under which they may be bought and sold. In fact, over time, HDFC units have paradoxically become the most and least affordable housing option on the New York City housing market. This article tackles four questions frequently asked about HDFC units.
In this article:
#1. Can anyone buy an HDFC Unit?
The short answer is no, but understanding why is a bit more complex and varies from building to building. To begin, consider a two-bedroom unit on Mott Street in Nolita that was listed for $875,000. If this sounds like a great deal, it is. According to CityRealty data, the average price of a two-bedroom unit in the neighborhood is $4.4 million. Unfortunately, if you are looking to take advantage of this great deal, you likely make too much money to qualify: The income cap on this specific unit was $34,992.
How can someone who makes less than $35,000 annually get a mortgage for $700,000? In reality, they can’t and if they could, it still seems unlikely they could easily meet the combined monthly mortgage and coop payments of $4,556, which coincidentally exceeds the income restriction on the unit by approximately $20,000 annually. The only way to purchase this unit would be in a cash-only deal and even then, the buyer would need to have an extremely low-income or be living primarily off of donations and gifts.
How can someone who makes less than $35,000 annually get a mortgage for $700,000? In reality, they can’t and if they could, it still seems unlikely they could easily meet the combined monthly mortgage and coop payments of $4,556, which coincidentally exceeds the income restriction on the unit by approximately $20,000 annually. The only way to purchase this unit would be in a cash-only deal and even then, the buyer would need to have an extremely low-income or be living primarily off of donations and gifts.
Of course, not all HDFC units are located in luxury neighborhoods. In fact, many of these units are located in moderately priced neighborhoods such as Harlem, Hamilton Heights, and Crown Heights. In these neighborhoods, it is often still possible to find a two-bedroom or larger HDFC unit for less than $500,000. Also, in most cases, the income restrictions are much higher than they are on the Mott Street unit because they are based on the area median income (AMI). Still, even many of these moderately priced units remain out of reach but for a different reason: When the units go on the market, they are often priced below market averages but either don’t permit financing or only permit 20% to 40% financing, which means buyers must both meet the AMI and be in the position to bring a large amount of cash to the deal.
#2. Why have affordable units on the market if most New Yorkers—even those with modest incomes—don’t qualify to purchase them?
To appreciate why HDFC units exist, you have to go back to a very different New York City—the New York of the late 1970s when the economy was sluggish and thousands of landlords had abandoned their properties or had them seized by the city. To prevent the mass relocation of low-income residents, especially in the Lower East Side, Upper Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the South Bronx, the city decided to make modest improvements to create a program that enabled tenants to buy their units for just $250—yes, $250 not $250,000. To ensure the units stayed affordable, the city also imposed income ceilings and a huge flip-tax that essentially made selling the units undesirable.
For most the 1980s and 1990s, the HDFC plan worked well. It meant that people who would have otherwise been displaced not only got to stay in their neighborhood but to own their own home. Then the housing situation in New York City started to rebound and strange things started to happen on the HDFC market. By the 2000s, units once purchased for $250 were coming on the market in gentrifying neighborhoods below market prices but still well above anything the original tenants had paid. While this was great news for many low-income tenants looking to retire and relocate, HDFC units priced at $300,000 and even above $800,000 were no longer attracting low-income tenants. Instead, these units, once meant for people living on low incomes, were increasingly only viable for retirees, young people with big gifts from their families, and occasionally, modest-income people who had just come into an inheritance.
609 Columbus Avenue, #12F (Corcoran Group)
#3. Who determines prices, income caps and restrictions, and financing terms on HDFC units?
According to NYC Housing Preservation & Development, HDFC cooperatives have “no statutory or regulatory restrictions on HDFC resale prices.” However, reforms are expected in the next decade that will create controls on resale prices.
Income restrictions are another matter and depend on the HDFC’s original agreement with the City. Most HDFCs have a regulatory agreement with the City of New York and as such, establish income maximums at either 120% or 165% of the area median income (AMI). However, some HDFCs use a different and more convoluted formula. This formula essentially maintains that shareholders can’t earn more than 6 or 7 times (depending on family size) the monthly maintenance, plus utilities, plus six percent of the original $250 purchase price of the apartment, all multiplied by 12 to represent every month of the year. (This formula might possibly account for the particularly low-income cutoff on the Mott Street unit mentioned earlier in the article).
Finally, there is the question of financing terms. Like all coops, HDFC coops have a lot of say over financing terms and tenant selection. Because HDFCs are often in desperate need of cash to cover overdue repairs or debt, boards often demand all-cash deals or deals that at the very least ask the buyer to bring a lot of cash (often 60% to 80% of the deal).
Income restrictions are another matter and depend on the HDFC’s original agreement with the City. Most HDFCs have a regulatory agreement with the City of New York and as such, establish income maximums at either 120% or 165% of the area median income (AMI). However, some HDFCs use a different and more convoluted formula. This formula essentially maintains that shareholders can’t earn more than 6 or 7 times (depending on family size) the monthly maintenance, plus utilities, plus six percent of the original $250 purchase price of the apartment, all multiplied by 12 to represent every month of the year. (This formula might possibly account for the particularly low-income cutoff on the Mott Street unit mentioned earlier in the article).
Finally, there is the question of financing terms. Like all coops, HDFC coops have a lot of say over financing terms and tenant selection. Because HDFCs are often in desperate need of cash to cover overdue repairs or debt, boards often demand all-cash deals or deals that at the very least ask the buyer to bring a lot of cash (often 60% to 80% of the deal).
#4. Is buying an HDFC unit a good investment?
While most New Yorkers will never even qualify for an HDFC unit, some do; and, in the current market, money can be made on HDFC units. For example, a currently listed HDFC unit in Harlem at 1809 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard is asking $1,200,000. While this may sound a bit steep, bear in mind that this is a five-bedroom unit measuring 1,750 square feet. The unit also appears to be rapidly gaining value. The unit was listed for $375,000 in May 2016, sold well above the asking price for $435,000 in September 2016, and is now being put back on the market for $895,000. In just over two years, this HDFC unit has more than doubled its market value. But can you make money off an HDFC?
In the past, HDFC units were only considered good long-term investments, but with prices surging, this rule of thumb is no longer the case. Indeed, if the seller of 145 West 105th Street does get the asking price, they will likely see a good return on their investment, even after paying their building’s flip-tax, which in most HDFC buildings is 30 percent but can be as high as 50 percent in some buildings, especially when I buyer chooses to turn around their unit in less than five years.
111 South 3rd Street, #3F (The Agency Brokerage)
So, if you're still interested in an HDFC unit, where do you go from here? For starters, we've compiled a chart of HDFC apartments in highly desirable neighborhoods at a fraction of the typical price. Moreover, while Housing Connect is well known for affordable housing lotteries concerning rentals, the occasional HDFC co-op lottery takes place through here. Please be advised that CityRealty is not affiliated with the lotteries.
Selected newly-listed HDFC apartments available around NYC
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469 West 166th Street, #5A (Compass)
151 First Avenue, #3F (Compass)
541 West 133rd Street, #1 (Douglas Elliman Real Estate)
344 West 48th Street, #2FE (Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices New York Properties)
Maple Court, #206 (Douglas Elliman Real Estate)
30 Macombs Place, #23 (Douglas Elliman Real Estate)
Ellington on the Park, #213 (Brown Harris Stevens Residential Sales LLC)
312 West 49th Street, #5RW (Compass)
108 Division Avenue, #12A (Corcoran Group)
544 West 157th Street, #1 (Compass)
1001 President Street, #F4 (Compass)
Site Five Cooperative, #2W (Sothebys International Realty)
270 Convent Avenue, #8B (Compass)
745 East 6th Street, #1B (Corcoran Group)
523 West 143rd Street, #1D (Corcoran Group)
65 North 8th Street, #11 (Bond New York Properties LLC)
The Shelton, #5B (Brown Harris Stevens Brooklyn LLC)
412 East 10th Street, #4C (R New York)
527 West 143rd Street, #41
$749,000 (-6.3%)
Hamilton Heights | Cooperative | 3 Bedrooms, 2 Baths | 1,289 ft2
527 West 143rd Street, #41 (Compass)
175 Claremont Avenue, #32 (Corcoran Group)
The Cranmoor, #4A (Serhant)
64 East 3rd Street, #2 (Christies International Real Estate Group LLC)
1809 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard, #5F
$1,200,000
Harlem | Cooperative | 5 Bedrooms, 2 Baths | 1,750 ft2
1809 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard, #5F (Compass)
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Would you like to tour any of these properties?
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Or call us at (212) 755-5544
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