The Genesis, #2B (Douglas Elliman)

While certain residential amenities cater to highly specific tastes and lifestyles, everybody needs clean clothes, as evinced by laundromats getting deemed essential businesses when New York was on lockdown. However, it can get tedious having to lug a heavy bag of clothes, sheets, and/or towels to the nearest laundromat, find enough quarters for the trip, and block out enough time in the day to finish a load of laundry. Sending one’s laundry out can cut many of these inconveniences, but the cost can add up quickly.

An in-building laundry room can solve many of those problems, but in-unit laundry is even more highly coveted – a 2022 study from the National Association of Homebuilders found that a laundry room was considered “essential” or “desirable” by a whopping 83% of first-time homebuyers. Full laundry rooms are not likely to be found in the typical New York City apartment, but a stackable washer/dryer in a closet is far more likely. This machine is guaranteed to be available; there’s no need to save quarters or worry about a stranger rifling through one’s clothes; and one can do a load of laundry at any given time, rather than within the business hours set by a commercial laundromat or central laundry room.National Association of Homebuilders dataFor those who do not have an in-unit washer/dryer, some buildings make it easier to install than others. Some new developments offer in-unit washer/dryer hookups in lieu of the machines themselves, which gives buyers the choice of easy installation or extra storage space. However, certain buildings have “wet over wet” rules that require washer/dryers to be installed only over “wet spaces” so as to reduce the risk of water damage to other units in the building (hence the number of apartments with washer/dryers in the kitchen or next to the bathroom). Additionally, some buildings require board approval before a washer/dryer can be installed, if not approval from the Department of Buildings.

Finally, some prewar buildings explicitly do not allow in-unit washer/dryers. It is important to note that this is not arbitrary or out of spite, but because these buildings were constructed at a time when everyone was doing laundry by hand; as such, the plumbing and electrical infrastructures are not equipped to handle multiple washer/dryers. A certain number of in-unit washer/dryers may be grandfathered in, but the building literally cannot take any more, nor allow for portable washing machines.

“The washer/dryer in the apartment has become a status symbol, a value proposition, a major selling point” – The Harris Residential Team, Brown Harris Stevens

Given the many advantages of an in-unit washer/dryer, it is little wonder that a Forbes article found that co-ops with in-unit laundry come to an average price of 7% higher than those without. Meanwhile, in this landscape, in-unit washer/dryers have become a key component of new construction condos. Below, we take a look at newly listed apartments with in-unit washer/dryers or the ability to install one.

334 East 77th Street, #7 (Douglas Elliman Real Estate)

242 East 87th Street, #1F (Douglas Elliman Real Estate)

28 West 87th Street, #4A (Compass)

Concord Village, #16H (Douglas Elliman Real Estate)

1255 Bushwick Avenue, #3E (Douglas Elliman Real Estate)

The Carlton Park, #9C (Brown Harris Stevens Residential Sales LLC)

Clinton Mews, #5M (Compass)

The Alden, #617 (Corcoran Group)

EDEN Condominium, #3F (Nest Seekers LLC)

955 Lexington Avenue, #11A (Corcoran Group)

55 West 95th Street, #53 (ALTA Real Estate)

111 Montgomery Street, #9F (Compass)

152 East 94th Street, #7F (Engel & Volkers New York Real Estate LLC)

67 Park Avenue, #15A (Douglas Elliman Real Estate)

Belltel Lofts, #8N (Serene Powers Real Estate LLC)

The Genesis, #2B (Douglas Elliman Real Estate)

The Broad Exchange Building, #14K (Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group)

Gracie Green, #2C (Corcoran Group)

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Content SpecialistMichelle MazzarellaMichelle is a contributing writer and editor for real estate news in New York City