That does, in fact seem to be the case. The city of New York is selling apartments on the Upper West Side, two blocks from the park, for as low as $173,801, according to a new report from Bloomberg.

There are seventeen studio and one-bedroom units in a pre-war walk-up with hardwood floors and air conditioning, according to the report. They will be sold via lottery to New Yorkers earning under 120% of the area’s median income and with assets under $280,000.

The deadline to apply is August 27 and so far over 10,000 people have applied. 

The Upper West Side building on West 80th Street is near the American Museum of Natural History, Zabar’s, and the subway. Nearby, a four-bedroom condo is listed at $7.8 million, while studios start at nearly half a million dollars.

Photo: Bloomberg

One woman who walked by to check out the building said: “It seems too good to be true. This is almost what I bought my house for in 1991.”

Bloomberg reported that for the West 80th Street building, households of two earning up to $149,160 or three earning up to $167,760 can apply for a one-bedroom unit. The apartment must be the buyer’s primary residence, with a 5% down payment required and resale restrictions in place.

NYC Housing Connect’s lottery allows eligible applicants to apply once per development. The program includes buildings on city-owned land or those benefiting from affordable housing subsidies or tax exemptions, the article notes. 

Units are priced as low as $340 per square foot, a bargain compared to Manhattan and cities like Austin and Santa Monica. The city is also raffling homes in high-end areas like Hudson Yards, with two-bedroom rentals at $3,861 per month for families of four earning up to $194,125, as well as properties in Astoria and the Upper East Side.

The Department of Housing Preservation and Development placed a record 9,550 households into affordable units last year. Mayor Eric Adams is pushing for more residential construction, including 7,000 new homes in the Bronx through rezoning.