A deed is the public record of who owns a property and how they got it. In NYC, every recorded sale, transfer and conveyance lives in ACRIS — and reading it is the first step to understanding any building.
A recorded deed names the grantor (seller), the grantee (buyer), the property by BBL, the recording date, and the consideration (sale price). Pulled together over time, a building's deeds show its full ownership history — every hand it has passed through and at what price.
All of this comes from ACRIS, the city's Automated City Register Information System, which has digitized records back to 1966.
A recently recorded deed signals an active owner — someone who just deployed capital and may be buying more, or someone who just sold and is sitting on proceeds. Tracking large recent sales surfaces the most active players in a submarket.
Recent high-value transfers include buildings like 8 East 57 Street (~$1.08B), 800 Fifth Avenue (~$810M), and 149 Columbus Avenue (~$931M).
Commercial and multifamily deeds almost always name an LLC as the grantee, not a person. To reach the human behind it, follow the steps in how to find a property owner in NYC. Crezly groups every LLC controlled by the same operator, so a single deed becomes a view of the owner's whole portfolio.
What is a deed vs. a mortgage in ACRIS?
A deed records the transfer of ownership; a mortgage records the loan secured against the property. Both are filed in ACRIS and keyed to the same BBL.
How do I find every sale of a building?
Search the building's BBL or address on the Crezly property map to pull its full deed history, or browse owner and building records directly.
Is the sale price always accurate?
The recorded consideration is usually the true price for arm's-length sales, but related-party transfers and $0/$10 nominal deeds are common — always read the document type.