Following the previous analysis of skyscrapers in NYC, I was also curious in the composition of apartment buildings in NYC. Therefore, I webscraped apartment details from NYBits which include the name of the apartment building, the type of apartment (condo, coop, rental), borough and neighborhood it was located in, number of floors, number of units, and a short description of the apartment. This description would usually describe the apartment as a low/mid/high-rise building, the amenities it included, as well as mentioning if the apartment building was considered a landmark by the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission.
Here are some of my key observations:
- Around 75% of apartment buildings in NYC are low-rises, which confirms my belief that the quintessential NYC apartment is the walk-up apartment
- While low-rise apartments make up the majority of apartments in each borough, I was surprised to find that the Bronx has almost an equal distribution between low-rises and mid/high-rises
- Almost half (41%) of low-rise apartments are buildings where each floor consists of one unit or the entire building constitutes as one unit! Since I live in a low-rise apartment where there are multiple units per floor, I thought this was the norm
- The neighborhoods that are usually the most desirable to live in (West Village, Brooklyn Heights, etc) happen to be the neighborhoods that have the highest percentage of apartments that are considered landmarks!
Which neighborhood/borough and type of apartment building would you want to live in?