Kings County

Kings County (Brooklyn) sits at a 2.91% cap rate on a $946,395 median purchase price, with monthly rent of $3,532 against a $4,961 mortgage payment at 6.85%. The rent-to-price ratio is 0.045, which is thin enough that the modeled cash-on-cash return comes in at negative 14.69%, and estimated monthly cash flow is negative $2,665 after expenses. That is not a rounding error or a pessimistic assumption, it is the arithmetic of a market where prices have appreciated 5.75% year-over-year on a base that is already nearly $950,000. The appreciation score of 88 out of 100 and the cash-flow score of 37 tell you exactly where this market sits on the spectrum: deep into appreciation territory, with cash flow that is structurally negative at current financing costs.

This market does not suit a cash-flow buyer at today's prices and rates. The numbers work only for an investor who either has a long time horizon to let appreciation compound, is acquiring an asset with significant equity already in place (meaning a below-median purchase), or is a value-add operator who can force rent growth materially above the $3,532 median. The affordability index of 5 out of 100 and median household income of $74,692 against a $946,395 median price create a meaningful tension: the renter pool exists and is large (2.68 million people make Brooklyn the most populous county in New York State), but rent growth is constrained by what that income base can absorb. A value-add operator targeting the upper end of the market, or converting underutilized commercial or mixed-use property, has a clearer thesis than a straight buy-and-hold at median.

The tax and insurance burden deserves its own line on any underwrite. At the state-average effective property tax rate of 1.72%, annual property taxes on a $946,395 purchase run approximately $16,278, and insurance adds another $2,271, putting the combined monthly tax-and-insurance load at $1,546. That figure alone, before debt service or maintenance, consumes 44% of the gross monthly rent. The 1.72% rate is flagged as high, and while that is a state-average estimate (county and township rates will differ, per the Tax Foundation 2024 data used here), it is directionally accurate enough to treat as a real underwriting constraint rather than a line item to finesse. At 6.85% on an 80% LTV loan, there is no plausible expense assumption that produces positive cash flow at the median price point; the tax burden simply deepens the hole.

The concentration risk in Brooklyn is real and structural. A landlord-tenant regulatory environment that is among the most tenant-protective in the United States means lease enforcement, eviction timelines, and rent stabilization exposure are material considerations that will not show up in a cap rate calculation but will show up in actual returns. The county ranks 611th out of 1,000 nationally and in the 19th percentile, placing it toward the bottom of investable markets on a composite basis, which reflects not just the cash-flow math but the regulatory and operational friction embedded in the New York City context.

Against its neighbors, Brooklyn's 0.0448 rent-to-price ratio is the weakest in the peer group. Queens County comes in at a median price of $722,489 and a rent-to-price ratio of 0.0499, a meaningfully better spread on a $224,000 lower entry point, with an overall score of 50 versus Brooklyn's 47. Rockland County offers a 0.0489 ratio at $724,554 median, and Richmond County (Staten Island) sits at $701,776 with a 0.0412 ratio, though its lower rent ceiling limits upside. Westchester at $824,579 and 0.0439 is closer to Brooklyn's profile. The case for choosing Brooklyn over Queens or Rockland on cash-flow grounds does not exist at current prices. The case for choosing Brooklyn is exclusively appreciation and liquidity: the depth of the market, the track record of price growth at 5.75% annually, and the long-term demand from a 2.68-million-person county with constrained housing supply. An investor who needs positive monthly cash flow should look at Queens first. An investor making a decade-plus bet on New York City asset values, with the capital to absorb negative carry, can find that thesis here.