Realtor.com: NYC-area luxury listings start at $2.62M but assigned elementary schools average 6.7/10, report says
Realtor.com’s September luxury housing analysis found the New York–Newark–Jersey City metro’s priciest 10% of listings start at $2.62 million. The public elementary schools assigned to those luxury listings average a 6.7 out of 10 GreatSchools rating, placing the metro among the bottom 10 of 43 markets studied.
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What happened
Key facts
- Naples–Marco Island, Florida led the Realtor.com list with an average school rating of 9.3 and a luxury threshold starting at $3.69 million (per New York Post).
- Crestview–Fort Walton Beach–Destin, Florida had an average school rating of 9.1 with a $2.87 million luxury threshold in the same analysis (per New York Post).
- A Realtor.com representative, Smith, said some affordable areas appeared in the top 15, and the threshold now sits 14.1% below its May 2023 peak (per New York Post).
The brief
Realtor.com’s September luxury housing report shows a disconnect between high housing prices and assigned public elementary school ratings in the New York–Newark–Jersey City metro. The company defined luxury listings as September properties priced at or above each metro’s 90th percentile, and in this metro the priciest 10% of listings begin at $2.62 million.
Despite that price threshold, the public elementary schools assigned to those properties average only 6.7 out of 10 on GreatSchools, which places the metro among the bottom 10 of the 43 markets Realtor.com studied.
Realtor.com limited its analysis to metros that averaged at least 500 million-dollar listings over the previous 12 months and used September listings to identify the local luxury cutoff. The report cites data across 43 markets; the firm’s methodology treats each metro the same way by ranking listings within that month and selecting the 90th percentile as the luxury threshold.
In the New York–Newark–Jersey City metro, that 90th-percentile figure translates to the $2.62 million starting point for luxury inventory. The report contrasts the New York metro with Florida markets that posted much higher assigned elementary school ratings for luxury listings.
Naples–Marco Island led Realtor.com’s ranking with an average assigned elementary school rating of 9.3 and a $3.69 million luxury threshold, while Crestview–Fort Walton Beach–Destin averaged 9.1 with a $2.87 million luxury starting price.
Realtor.com’s representative identified as Smith told the outlet that “some really affordable areas really popped out here in the top 15,” and the report notes the current luxury threshold sits 14.1% below its May 2023 peak.
The findings highlight how high local housing costs do not consistently align with high-rated public elementary schools within luxury markets, at least by the GreatSchools metric used in Realtor.com’s analysis.
Realtor.com’s methodology—requiring a minimum volume of million-dollar listings and using a single month’s listings to set the 90th-percentile threshold—frames the comparison across diverse metros.
The report presents the GreatSchools average as the basis for ranking assigned elementary schools and lists the New York–Newark–Jersey City metro near the bottom of the 43 metros measured.
Realtor.com’s September luxury housing report is available through the company and was summarized in its public materials; the Realtor.com headline for the study frames the piece as an examination of where luxury homes get top-rated elementary schools.
The analysis provides specific metro-by-metro figures for luxury thresholds and assigned elementary school averages, with the New York–Newark–Jersey City metro notable for a $2.62 million luxury threshold paired with a 6.7 GreatSchools average.
Why it matters
- Families house-hunting in the New York–Newark–Jersey City metro face a luxury price threshold of $2.62 million while assigned public elementary schools average 6.7/10 on GreatSchools, indicating a mismatch between housing cost and assigned elementary school ratings for buyers prioritising school quality.
- Realtor.com’s criterion that metros must average at least 500 million-dollar listings to be included means the analysis concentrates on high-volume expensive markets, affecting prospective buyers, local real estate agents and school-district planning in those specific metros.
- The report identifies specific alternative metro outcomes—Naples–Marco Island and Crestview–Fort Walton Beach–Destin had average assigned elementary school ratings above 9.0—showing that luxury price and assigned elementary school quality vary substantially across metros and can influence where high-net-worth buyers choose to locate.
What to watch next
- Whether Realtor.com publishes the full metro-by-metro dataset and methodology behind the September luxury housing report that produced the $2.62 million threshold and 6.7 GreatSchools average.
- Whether local real estate brokers in the New York–Newark–Jersey City metro cite the report’s $2.62 million luxury cutoff in marketing or buyer guidance.
- Whether school districts in metros cited by Realtor.com respond to the comparison by releasing data or statements about assigned elementary school performance for luxury neighborhoods.
How it's being covered
Coverage analysisShow details2 source articles · 2 unique outletsCoverage mix: Too few rated· 1 RightWhere the outlets are based: US/Canada 50% · Unknown 50%
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How outlets' accounts compare
How we got here
Immediate backdrop: Realtor.com reported a luxury-listings price threshold that peaked in May 2023, a benchmark its analysts have used to compare later luxury-market shifts.
Structural roots: GreatSchools, founded in 1998, has published public-school ratings used by buyers and real-estate platforms since the late 1990s, and those ratings have been incorporated into market analyses by portals and journalists.
Original sources
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