The Walk-Up Is Back: 4 in 10 New NYC Condo Plans Have No Elevator
New condo doesn't have to mean doorman tower. A growing share of NYC's new condos are small walk-up buildings, mostly in Brooklyn. We looked at elevator data from more than 2,000 offering plans to see what buyers trade, and what they save.
Picture a new NYC condo and you probably imagine a glassy tower with a lobby and an elevator bank. But a fast-growing share of new condos are something much humbler: small walk-up buildings with a handful of apartments and a staircase.
Every offering plan says whether the building has an elevator. We checked more than 2,000 of them.
The Short Version
- About 42% of NYC condo plans filed since 2023 have no elevator, up from 15% before 2016.
- Almost all are small: about 64% of recent buildings with under 10 apartments are walk-ups.
- They're overwhelmingly in Brooklyn.
- Walk-ups budget about $175 less per apartment per month to run than similar-size elevator buildings.
The Walk-Up Boom
| Year plan was filed | Share with no elevator |
|---|---|
| Before 2016 | 15% |
| 2016–2019 | 23% |
| 2020–2022 | 39% |
| 2023–2026 | 42% |
What's driving it is the rise of the small condo. Developers are building three- to eight-unit buildings on single lots, and since 2020 the zip codes with the most new walk-up condo plans are in Bushwick and Bed-Stuy (11221), Park Slope (11215), Carroll Gardens (11231), Bed-Stuy (11216) and Williamsburg (11211), and at that size an elevator is a big expense spread over very few owners.
Where Walk-Ups Are
Among buildings with under 10 apartments filed since 2022:
- Brooklyn: about 69% have no elevator.
- Queens: about half.
- Manhattan: about 1 in 4. Small Manhattan condos usually have an elevator, partly because buyers at Manhattan prices expect one.
Once a building reaches 10 to 29 apartments, only about 13% are walk-ups. At 30 or more, virtually every building has an elevator.
Recent examples include The Melrose in Bushwick, 18 apartments across three buildings; Grattan Street Lofts in East Williamsburg; Brooklyn Bloom in East Flatbush; The Art Deco in Prospect Lefferts Gardens; and The Harman in Bushwick.
What You Save
Elevators are expensive to maintain, inspect and insure, and those costs are split among very few owners in a small building. We compared the projected first-year budgets in offering plans filed since 2020 for buildings with 4 to 9 apartments:
| Building type | Median budget per apartment, per month |
|---|---|
| Walk-up | about $440 |
| Elevator building | about $620 |
That's the total building budget divided by apartments, not any one owner's common charges, which depend on the unit's size. But it gives a sense of the difference: roughly $2,100 a year per apartment.
The Trade-Offs
- Top-floor stairs. Four flights is a workout with groceries, a stroller or a couch. Top floors often come with roof decks, which helps.
- Resale. Some buyers rule out walk-ups entirely, which can narrow your pool when you sell.
- Accessibility. A walk-up won't work for everyone, and older owners may eventually need to move.
- Duplexes. Many small walk-ups stack two duplexes: a garden duplex and a penthouse duplex. Stairs inside the apartment are part of the deal.
Tip: if a building has no elevator, the offering plan will often say so plainly, e.g. "The building will not contain an elevator." Search for that phrase, and check the floor your apartment is on in Schedule A.
Search "walk-up condos in Brooklyn" or "condos with an elevator" on The Condo Book Project. See also amenities by building size and Brooklyn's boutique condo architects.
Common Questions
Are there new condos in NYC without elevators?
Yes, and a lot of them. About 42% of NYC condo offering plans filed since 2023 are for buildings with no elevator, mostly small buildings in Brooklyn.
Are walk-up condos cheaper to own?
Their operating budgets are lower. Among buildings with 4 to 9 apartments filed since 2020, walk-ups budget a median of about $440 per apartment per month, versus about $620 for elevator buildings.
How many apartments does a building need to have an elevator?
There's no fixed number, but in our data almost every condo with 30 or more apartments has one, while most with fewer than 10 do not.
Where this comes from: elevator information in about 2,050 NYC condo offering plans, and the projected first-year budgets (Schedule B) of about 460 buildings with 4 to 9 apartments filed since 2020. Budgets are developers' first-year projections. Updated October 2026.
Cite This Research
The Condo Book Project, “The Walk-Up Is Back: 4 in 10 New NYC Condo Plans Have No Elevator,” Condo Book Research, updated Oct 11, 2026, https://www.condobooknyc.com/research/walk-up-condos-nyc-no-elevator.html.
The figures are recomputed from the plan records each time the site is rebuilt, so cite the date you read them.