So how do pets affect property values anyway?

By Leah Hochbaum Rosner | October 9, 2015 - 2:59PM

If you’re a dog owner, you know how hard it can be to find a hospitable building for you and your pooch. Many buildings ban dogs outright, while others have restrictions on size, breed or number, or charge fees to keep them in your unit.

But is it also more expensive to buy in a pet-friendly building and will your home therefore be worth more if your building allows them? The answer is yes and no. Let’s examine the numbers:

According to Jonathan Miller of real estate appraisal firm Miller Samuel, who watched sales in pet-friendly and no-pets buildings for three years, the average sale price of an apartment in a pet-friendly building is $2.18 million versus $1.03 million for no pets and $830,000 for no dogs (as of September 2015).
Brendan Fairbanks, founder of apartment search site Perchwell, looked at the apartments for sale in Manhattan during the beginning of October and discovered that in most cases the asking prices for pet-friendly co-ops and condos are slightly higher than those apartments in buildings that don't allow pets. One outlier: three-bedroom pet-friendly condos ($5 million median price) are cheaper than three-bedroom condos in non-pet-friendly buildings ($5.6 million). See charts below for more
For some buyers, a building that allows pets is almost like an amenity—and plenty of folks might pay more for it.
The reason for the price gap may have more to do with the types of buildings that allow pets. For instance, buildings that only ban dogs (as opposed to all pets) may be smaller properties with smaller apartments, which would probably be cheaper because of their size, not their pet policies.
Similarly, newer buildings will probably be more pro-pet than older co-ops, and since new condos tend to be more expensive in general, that might explain the price differential.

For more, read “The pet-friendly premium: Is it pricier to buy in a building that allows animals?”

Before you bring a dog home, read this

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