How to Price Your Home Using Comparable Sales

Price your home from what similar homes actually sold for recently, not from what neighbors are asking. In New York City you can see recorded sale prices for free in the Department of Finance (DOF) sales files and on ACRIS, so you can build your own comparable-sales (comp) set, adjust it for the differences that matter, and check any agent's suggested price against it.

Where NYC sale prices come from

DOF Rolling Sales and annualized sales

The Department of Finance publishes every recorded sale of tax class 1, 2 and 4 property for the last 12 months, sorted by borough, neighborhood and building class. As of this update the files cover September 2025 through August 2026. Older years are in the annualized sales files, which start in 2003. Each row has the address, building class, sale price and sale date. For co-op sales, DOF includes the apartment number in the address field, which is how you find a specific unit.

You don't need to download spreadsheets: Roofy loads this data on the NYC sales page (filter by borough, neighborhood and price) and on building pages in the building lookup, under "Sales history". Sales recorded with no price are labeled as non-market transfers.

ACRIS deeds

ACRIS, the city's register, holds deeds and other recorded documents for Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens from 1966 on. A condo or house deed shows the parties and the consideration. It is useful for checking an unusual price or finding older sales in your building. See how to search ACRIS and ACRIS deeds and sale prices.

Build your comp set

1. 1

   Start in your own building

   Search your address on Roofy and read the sales history. Same-building sales of the same layout are the strongest comps you will find.
2. 2

   Widen to similar buildings nearby

   Same neighborhood, same building class (walk-up vs elevator, co-op vs condo), similar age and amenities. Use the NYC sales page filtered by neighborhood.
3. 3

   Keep it recent

   Prefer sales from the last 6–12 months. If you must use older ones, note how the market has moved since then.
4. 4

   Remove the outliers

   Drop $0 and nominal sales, sponsor bulk sales, and anything that looks like a family or estate transfer.
5. 5

   Note each comp’s differences

   Bedrooms and baths, size, floor and view, condition and renovation, outdoor space, maintenance or common charges, and building amenities.
6. 6

   Adjust each comp toward your home

   Add value where the comp is worse than your home, subtract where it is better. Then look at the range, not one number.

Adjusting for floor, condition and outdoor space

No two NYC apartments are the same, so you adjust each comp's price to estimate what it would have sold for if it were your home. There is no official adjustment table. The right amounts depend on the building and the neighborhood, which is why a local agent or an appraiser earns their fee here. The logic, though, is simple:

• Floor and view: higher floors with light and open views usually sell for more than low floors facing a wall in the same line. A walk-up reverses this: each flight of stairs can count against you.
• Condition: a gut-renovated kitchen and bath versus original finishes is often the largest single difference between two otherwise identical units. Think about what a buyer would spend, and how much disruption they would face, to bring the comp up to your level.
• Outdoor space: a private terrace or garden is scarce in NYC and buyers pay for it. A shared roof deck counts for much less.
• Monthly costs: higher maintenance or common charges reduce what buyers can borrow and what they will pay. Compare comps on price and monthly carrying cost together.
• Co-op rules: a lenient sublet policy or lower down-payment requirement widens the buyer pool; strict rules narrow it.

The adjusted comps cluster between about $890,000 and $915,000, which gives a defensible pricing range for this example. If one comp sits far outside the cluster after adjusting, look for something you missed (a sale to a relative, an estate sale, a unit needing major work) rather than averaging it in.

Why asking price and sale price differ

An asking price is a marketing decision. A recorded sale price is what a buyer paid after negotiation, inspection, board approval and financing. The two can differ in either direction. Listing sites show asking prices; the DOF files show only closed prices, and they appear after the deed or co-op transfer is recorded, so the newest deals in your building may not show up yet. Ask your agent about contracts signed but not yet closed.

Watch out for comparing your asking price with other listings that have been sitting for months. A listing that hasn't sold is evidence of what buyers won't pay.

The cost of overpricing

Buyers and their agents run the same comps you just ran. A price well above the adjusted range tends to draw fewer showings, and price cuts after a listing has gone stale can signal that something is wrong. In financed sales there is a second check: the buyer's lender orders an appraisal, and if it comes in below the contract price the buyer may need more cash or try to renegotiate. See home appraisals. For co-ops, boards also review the price against the buyer's finances.

Comparing your comps with an agent's number

When you interview listing agents, ask each one for their comps and adjustments, in writing. A good agent will show recorded sales and explain each adjustment; be cautious of a number that is much higher than everyone else's with no comps behind it. See how to choose a listing agent, then follow the full sequence in how to sell a home in NYC.

For houses and multi-family buildings, look up each comp's building page too: open DOB violations or work without permits can explain a low price, and the same issues on your property will come up in the buyer's due diligence.