Staten Island Residents See Home Buying Power Shrink From 53% Of Suburban Markets Last Decade To 46% Today, Losing Access To 27 Communities
Editor’s note: New York City as a whole has limited purchasing power when compared with other states when comparing what amount of space one can buy for $400k.
The latest PropertyShark study tracked how despite robust price gains in NYC, buyers from the five boroughs are competing in an increasingly shrinking pool of attainable suburban markets. As a quick recap, the 13-county suburban ring surrounding NYC underwent an 86% pricing surge over the past decade, double NYC’s rate.
So today, based on median sale prices, NYC buyers can afford a home in just over half of the city’s suburbs, whereas a decade ago they had access to two-thirds. Additionally, markets priced under $250K have completely disappeared, while suburbs over $1M have tripled.
Staten Island residents saw their buying power shrink, going from 53% of suburban markets a decade agoto 46% today, losing access to 27 communities. In fact, at the borough’s lowest pricing level,Heartland Village buyers saw their options shrink from 63 suburbs to just nine.
Dive into the full breakdown to see how pricing evolved across 387 suburban markets here and what this means for NYC buyers: https://www.propertyshark.com/Real-Estate-Reports/2026/03/19/nyc-buying-power-shrinks-in-suburbia/.
Staten Island residents looking to move to the suburbs today may find their options significantly restricted after the last decade’s pricing surges, PropertyShark’s newest report found. Home prices across NYC’s 13-county suburban ring jumped 86% (double NYC’s gains) since 2016, pushing prices up across all pricing ranges, from the most affordable suburban communities to the wealthiest enclaves.
This explosive appreciation effectively wiped out entry-level markets: Today, no more NYC suburbs are priced under $250K and just 8% remain under $500K — for now. In fact, 43% of suburban markets now sit between $500K and $750K. Meanwhile, one in four suburbs surpassed $1M — up from just one in ten in 2016.
Here are some more highlights:
- By median sale price, Staten Island buyers are now shut out of 207 suburban markets compared to 181 a decade ago.
- Todt Hill’s buying power still reaches 308 suburbs, but lost access to 30 locations over the past decade.
- At the Staten Island’s lower pricing range, neighborhoods like Heartland Village saw their options collapse from 63 suburbs to just 9 since 2016.
- Staten Island buyers retained more suburban access than Queens: 46% versus 41% of markets, compared to 53% a decade ago for both.
- Buyers from 14 Bronx and Queens neighborhoods can’t afford even the cheapest suburb (the $335K Bridgeport, Conn.), whereas in 2016 even NYC’s most affordable neighborhood outpriced five suburbs.
- Manhattan’s reach contracted from 91% of suburbs to under 80% as 100 suburban communities saw their median sale price at least double over the past decade.
Get the full picture of how the pricing balance has shifted between NYC and its suburbs and what this means for New Yorkers’ buying power beyond the five boroughs. Get borough-level breakdowns and see how suburban-pricing evolved across 387 markets here: https://www.propertyshark.com/Real-Estate-Reports/2026/03/19/nyc-buying-power-shrinks-in-suburbia/.
Banner Image: Coming home. Image Credit – Maria Kovalets
There are no comments yet
Why not be the first