Understanding NYC Property Data: A Guide to PLUTO and ACRIS

NYC Has Some of the Best Free Property Data in the Country

New York City publishes two datasets that, when used together, give real estate professionals an extraordinary amount of property intelligence at no cost. PLUTO provides property characteristics and zoning information for every tax lot in the five boroughs. ACRIS provides deed records, mortgage filings, and sales history. Understanding how to use these datasets can save you thousands of dollars in data subscription fees and give you research capabilities that rival paid platforms.

What Is PLUTO?

PLUTO stands for Primary Land Use Tax Lot Output. It is published by the New York City Department of City Planning and contains detailed information about every tax lot in the city — over 850,000 records. The dataset is updated periodically and is available for free download from NYC Open Data.

Key fields in PLUTO that are useful for valuation and investment analysis include:

Borough, block, and lot (BBL): The unique identifier for every tax lot in NYC. This is the key that links PLUTO records to other city datasets.
Building class: A code that describes the property type — single family, two family, walkup apartment, elevator building, commercial, mixed use, and many more.
Zoning district: The zoning classification that determines what can be built on the lot, including residential density, commercial use, and height limits.
Lot area and building area: The size of the land and the total built square footage.
Number of buildings, floors, and units: The physical characteristics of what is currently built on the lot.
Year built and year altered: When the building was originally constructed and when significant alterations were made.
Assessed value: The city's assessed value for tax purposes, broken into land and total assessed value.
FAR (floor area ratio): Both the built FAR and the maximum permitted FAR, which is critical for understanding development potential.

What Is ACRIS?

ACRIS stands for Automated City Register Information System. It is maintained by the NYC Department of Finance and contains records of all property transactions recorded in the city — deeds, mortgages, liens, satisfactions, and other documents. ACRIS covers Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island.

For real estate professionals, the most useful ACRIS data includes:

Deed transfers: Every property sale recorded in the city, including the sale price, date, buyer, seller, and document type.
Mortgage records: Loan amounts, lenders, and terms for every recorded mortgage.
Satisfaction records: When mortgages are paid off or released.
Property transfer tax filings: City and state transfer tax records that often include the sale price even when it is not listed on the deed itself.

How to Use PLUTO and ACRIS Together

The real power of these datasets comes from combining them. PLUTO tells you what a property looks like — its size, type, zoning, and physical characteristics. ACRIS tells you what happened to it — when it sold, for how much, who bought it, and how it was financed.

By joining PLUTO and ACRIS on the BBL (borough, block, lot) identifier, you can build a comprehensive profile of any property in New York City. You can identify recent sales of similar building types in a neighborhood, compare assessed values to actual sale prices, find properties with unused development rights (air rights), track ownership changes and mortgage activity, and research market trends at the block or neighborhood level.

Limitations to Be Aware Of

While PLUTO and ACRIS are remarkably useful, they have limitations. PLUTO data is updated periodically, not in real time, so recent construction or alterations may not be reflected. ACRIS records are only as accurate as the documents filed — sale prices can be missing, incorrect, or reflect non-arms-length transactions. Neither dataset includes interior condition information, which is a critical factor in valuation.

For these reasons, PLUTO and ACRIS are best used as a foundation that you supplement with additional data sources, site visits, and professional judgment.

How Comp Pro Uses NYC Data

Comp Pro integrates PLUTO and ACRIS data directly into its comp search and valuation engine. When you search for comps in New York City, the platform automatically pulls property characteristics from PLUTO and sales history from ACRIS, then enriches this data with AI-powered similarity scoring and adjustment suggestions. This gives you a comprehensive view of each comp without having to manually download and cross-reference datasets.