237 East 88th Street
237 East 88th Street, New York, NY 10128
BBL 1015347502 · BIN 1087683
- Year built
- 1920
- Type
- Condominium
- Units
- 20
- Floors
- 5
- Landmark
- No
- Pets
- Pet-friendly — confirm current house rules at offer stage
Every recorded sale at this building, 2004–2026
Price-per-square-foot over time, the line- and floor-premium curves, and every recorded sale.
- Median $/sf
- $1,092
- Listing discount
- 1.0%
- Recorded sales
- 46
- On record
- 2004–2026
Own an apartment here? See what it would sell for.
A Private Pricing Opinion — what your apartment at 237 East 88th Street would likely sell for today, what it costs to sell, and what you’d walk away with — reviewed personally against condition, exposures, renovation quality, and the competition actually on the market.
237 East 88th Street is a small pre-war condominium in the heart of Yorkville, mid-block between Second and Third Avenues. Built around 1920, it is a five-story building with roughly 20 residences. This is a walk-up building — there is no elevator — which is the single most important fact for a buyer to weigh, and it is priced accordingly.
The proposition here is entry-level ownership on the Upper East Side. The building offers deeded condominium ownership — investor-friendly, with units that may be rented — near the Q at the Second Avenue subway at 86th Street and Carl Schurz Park. For the buyer who wants an accessible price point on the Upper East Side and does not need an elevator or a doorman, or for an investor looking for a rentable unit, the building is a straightforward, cost-efficient choice.
Building operations
The condominium runs lean: a live-in superintendent, a video intercom, and a basement laundry room. There is no doorman, no elevator, and no garage — appropriate and cost-efficient for a small pre-war walk-up, and central to the building's low carrying costs. The building is pet-friendly and investor-friendly, and units may be rented.
As a condominium, ownership is by deed rather than shares: purchases are subject to condominium application and a right of first refusal rather than a co-op board interview, financing is flexible, and — importantly for this building — units may be rented, making it a genuinely investor-friendly address. Confirm the current pet policy, rental rules, and common charges at offer stage.
Architecture and residences
Completed around 1920 as a five-story pre-war walk-up, the building holds roughly 20 residences. It carries pre-war proportions rather than open-plan new construction, at a boutique scale and an accessible price point. The units are small, and the building is not landmarked. As a walk-up, there is no elevator — a defining characteristic of the building and its pricing. (The original architect is not documented in the public record.)
Local Law 97
This building is below the 25,000 sq ft threshold at which LL97 emissions caps apply. No regulatory capital pressure from this law specifically, current or 2030.
See full Local Law 97 analysis →Recent sales
Condominium pricing is read on a price-per-square-foot basis, and 237 East 88th trades as an entry-level Upper East Side condominium — a modest $/sf reflecting the walk-up structure, the small units, and the boutique pre-war scale. Recent one-bedroom trades have landed in the low-to-mid $400,000s. With roughly 20 units and small layouts, resale volume is thin. When underwriting a purchase or a list price, capture the floor (walk-up flights matter to buyers), the exposure, the layout, and renovation condition rather than relying on a neighborhood average. Genuinely variable financial figures should be confirmed at offer stage.
Recent closings at this building, from The Roebling Research Library. Prices are the transfer amounts recorded with the NYC Department of Finance; apartment-level detail is checked against the building’s own file in The Roebling Research Library before publishing.
| Date | Unit | Apartment | Price | PPSF | vs. Ask |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 23, 2026 | 101 | 3 BR · 3.5 BA · 1,475 sf | $1,610,000 | $1,092/sf | -10.3% |
| Jun 2, 2025 | 301 | 1 BR · 1 BA · 500 sf | $550,000 | $1,100/sf | -4.3% |
| Feb 13, 2025 | 201 | 1 BR · 1 BA · 500 sf | $550,000 | $1,100/sf | +0.0% |
| Apr 12, 2024 | 104 | 1 BA · 255 sf | $410,000 | $1,608/sf | -5.7% |
| Aug 17, 2023 | 401 | 1 BR · 1 BA · 347 sf | $515,000 | $1,484/sf | -1.9% |
| Oct 12, 2017 | 104 | 1 BA · 255 sf | $410,000 | $1,608/sf | -17.2% |
| Jun 13, 2016 | 502 | 1 BR · 363 sf | $538,000 | $1,482/sf | +2.5% |
| Sep 30, 2013 | 101 | 3 BR · 2.5 BA · 1,475 sf | $1,225,000 | $831/sf | -5.8% |
Market read. Most recent trades (2026) cleared a median $1,092/sf (recorded) across 1 sale. Median listing discount 1.0% from the last ask — a recurring negotiation gap worth pricing into any offer or listing strategy.
The retrade record
Lines that have traded more than once in the public record — the building’s appreciation arc, apartment by apartment.
Full closing history with price-per-square-foot over time, the complete retrade record, and every line that has traded.
Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 1-01534-7502). Apartment-level facts (line, condition, asking-price context) curated and cross-verified in The Roebling Research Library. Not all transactions cross-verify with ACRIS records — sponsor and LLC purchases sometimes record at stipulated values rather than market price; square footage from recorded condo declarations and offering plans.
Closed rents at 237 East 88th Street, last 36 months
| Size | Leases | Median / month |
|---|---|---|
| 1 bedroom | 6 | $3,000 |
7 closed leases, October 2023 to September 2026. Most recent lease August 2026. Sizes with fewer than 2 leases are not shown. Compiled by The Roebling Team at Compass from closed leases.
At the recent median sale of $550K (3 sales since 2024), a buyer putting 25% down would pay about $23,493 to close, or 4.3% of the price.
- Mansion tax: $0
- Mortgage recording tax: $7,425
- Title insurance: $2,475
- Attorneys, lender, building fees, reserves and filings: $13,593
Assumes a resale (the seller pays transfer taxes), a $4,500 attorney fee and a mortgage on the rest.
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What to know if you’re buying
This is a condominium, so the path is a condominium application and board right of first refusal rather than a co-op interview — a simpler, more flexible process, with financing latitude and, notably, the ability to rent the unit. Weigh the walk-up honestly: there is no elevator, and the flight of stairs affects both livability and resale. The reasons to buy are the price point and the flexibility — deeded, investor-friendly ownership on the Upper East Side, near the Q and Carl Schurz Park, at a cost structure well below the doorman condominiums nearby. Review the common charges, reserve, and rental rules given the building's age and investor mix.
What to know if you’re selling
The story is the entry point and the flexibility. The circa-1920 pre-war character, the small deeded units, the investor-friendly rental policy, and the Yorkville location — near the Q and Carl Schurz Park — sell to a first-time buyer or an investor who wants an accessible Upper East Side condominium and does not need an elevator. Pricing is a residence-specific exercise on a $/sf basis: floor, walk-up flights, exposure, layout, and condition drive the number more than any block average. We position the flexibility and the value and benchmark against the right comparable tier of small pre-war Upper East Side condominiums.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 237 East 88th Street, also look at these nearby Upper East Side and Yorkville buildings:
- 170 East 92nd Street — pre-war Carnegie Hill cooperative
- 120 East 83rd Street — pre-war cooperative near the Met
- 1376 York Avenue — an intimate pre-war Yorkville cooperative
- 359 East 68th Street — a slim full-service boutique condominium
More Upper East Side buildings
- The Park East (233 East 86th Street) — 1983 co-op by Liebman & Liebman
- 235 East 73rd Street (Eastgate) — 1936 co-op by Emery Roth
- 235 East 87th Street (The Plymouth House) — 1962 co-op
- 238 East 84th Street — 1962 co-op
- 240 East 79th Street — 1929 co-op
- The Eastmore (240 East 76th Street) — 1957 condop
The neighborhood
For the full corridor — architecture, transit, and pricing across Upper East Side — read The Roebling Team Guide to Upper East Side.
How to read the facts on this page. Items attributed to an offering plan describe the building as it was offered at that filing — unit mix, square footage, the amenity program as planned. They are not a statement about how the building operates today. Tax and compliance figures are sourced separately to current City records and carry their own dates. House rules, staffing and fee policy can change by board resolution without any public filing: treat every policy line here as a starting point for diligence and confirm it with the managing agent. Where this page compares one building or neighborhood to another, that is our analysis of the recorded record — it names the measure, the period and the sample it rests on, and it is an observation about medians rather than a prediction about any particular apartment.
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