Two official areas under one name
The city splits Harlem into two neighborhood areas, Harlem (South) and Harlem (North), and their housing differs. For Harlem (South), the city's tax-lot file (PLUTO) counts 22,665 homes on 1,650 residential lots: walk-ups 31.9 percent, elevator rentals 29.9 percent and co-ops 9.4 percent. In the NTA's tax-lot figures, 21.6% of Harlem (South) units are condos and 24.9% are in buildings from 1980 on. For Harlem (North) the file counts 39,230 homes on 2,012 lots: elevator rentals 41.8 percent, walk-ups 36.9 percent, condos 8.3 percent and co-ops 7.4 percent, with 54.7 percent of units in pre-1940 buildings. One-, two- and three-family buildings hold 5.4 percent of units in the south and 3.3 percent in the north.
Census tables use ZIP code tabulation areas, which do not line up with either. In the 2020–2024 American Community Survey, roughly 24 percent of occupied homes in ZCTA 10026 were owner-occupied, about 17 percent in 10027, and about 14 percent in each of 10030 and 10039. Owner-occupiers there include co-op shareholders. The year-built table puts about 22 percent of 10026's housing units in buildings from 2000 or later, while in 10030 about 55 percent date to 1939 or earlier.
The small-building share is modest but not zero. A buyer of a three-family house here is buying a whole structure, so that visit widens to the roof, the front wall, the cellar and the heating plant, and the multi-family page describes how each unit is handled.
Five historic districts, from 1967 to 2021
- St. Nicholas Historic District, March 16, 1967, in Harlem (North).
- Mount Morris Park Historic District, November 3, 1971, whose boundary starts at West 120th Street and Mount Morris Park West, in Harlem (South).
- Mount Morris Park Historic District Extension, September 22, 2015, beginning at Lenox Avenue and West 118th Street, also in Harlem (South).
- Central Harlem – West 130th-132nd Streets Historic District, May 29, 2018, in Harlem (North); the Commission unveiled markers for it in February 2026.
- Dorrance Brooks Square Historic District, June 15, 2021, whose first area begins at West 140th Street and Edgecombe Avenue; the Commission announced the designation that day.
Buildings inside these lines need Landmarks permits for most types of alterations; replacing broken glass and similar ordinary repair does not. For a row-house purchase that reaches the stoop, the cornice and the front windows. For a condo or co-op, it chiefly governs windows, and the board will have its own rules on top.
Newer condos: start with the offering plan
A condo unit in a building from 1980 on is a different purchase from a pre-war walk-up. The plan the sponsor filed with the state is the rulebook. The Attorney General keeps a database of offering plans and amendments, with sponsors, filing dates and file numbers; where documents can be downloaded, a "documents" tab appears, and where it does not, ask the managing agent or your attorney for the plan. For deeds and other recorded documents, ACRIS covers Manhattan from 1966 on.
Inside the unit, the visit looks at the panel and circuits, each fixture's supply and drain, windows and their seals, the heating and cooling equipment serving that apartment, exhaust fans, and any sign of water coming from above or through the wall. Newer buildings commonly use through-wall or ducted systems with condensate lines that drain inside the unit, so those drains get a look. What the visit does not cover is the building: roof, facade, shared risers, the board and the reserves.
Gas piping in Community District 10
Local Law 152 sets a four-year gas-piping cycle by community district. Community District 10's next window is 2028, from January 1 to December 31, and the previous one was 2024. Exempt from the law: one- and two-family homes, plus other buildings classed as Occupancy Group R-3. For a unit in an apartment building, ask to see the 2024 filing; for a three-family house, first confirm its classification in the Department of Buildings' property records.
Zoning, trains and flood maps
Part of Harlem (South) lies within the Special 125th Street District. In Harlem (North), the Special Planned Community Preservation District names the Harlem River Houses, where substantial changes to landscaping or new development require a City Planning Commission special permit. The state's MTA station table lists 110 St-Malcolm X Plaza, 116 St and 125 St on the 2 and 3, and Cathedral Pkwy (110 St) and 116 St on the B and C, in the south, none ADA-listed; in the north, 135 St on the 2 and 3 and Harlem-148 St, the 3 line's last stop, are listed as accessible, while 145 St on the 3 and 155 St on the B and D are not.
FEMA draws flood zones by location, not by neighborhood name, and its current and preliminary maps both apply. Whether the address is near Mount Morris Park or up by the Harlem River, run it through the FEMA Flood Map Service Center before signing.
Harlem bookings go to Masum Rumi, whose base is in East New York, Brooklyn. He goes through the property with you in English or Bangla and delivers the report the same day. Write in with the address and the kind of ownership; the general inspection page sets out the report's scope.