The modern American Dream, perhaps. The historic American Dream was a marketing campaign centred around enjoying the long commute in your American made automobile.
nyc is significantly cheaper. Three minutes on trulia found multiple yorkville/ues 1bed doorman units under 6 minutes from the 86th st express stop for under $650k. Add in not needing a car and it's a lot cheaper than living in sf/peninsula.
Don't forget the maintenance on that apartment, which is at least 1500 a month. 650k is extremely low, even then. I've only seen that on properties with a large tax abatement that is set to expire, or the land isn't owned by the building and the lease on the land will expire in 10 years. I wish you were right, but New York isn't that kind, even compared to SF.
As someone who is currently planning to buy in Manhattan, $650k for a 1br in Yorkville sounds about right.
Quick Streeteasy eyeballing around 86 suggests the maintenance need not be $1500 either -- you either get a fancy elevator building at that price, or you get a walkup at a lower price than $650k.
Agree- my girlfriend's sister just rented a nice 2br on the UES for $2500 a month. I can't get anything close to that in the same price range in SF, even for a 1br.