Brooklyn: Sales Prices Up, Number of Sales Down
A quarterly market report by Ideal Properties Group shows that residential sales prices in Brownstone Brooklyn and North Brooklyn increased by more than 13 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013 from the previous year.
By Joshua Ayers, Senior Editor
Brooklyn, NY—A quarterly market report, Brownstone Brooklyn and Beyond, which was released by Ideal Properties Group earlier this month, found that residential sales prices in Brownstone Brooklyn and North Brooklyn increased by more than 13 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013 from the previous year, and inched up 1.5 percent from the previous quarter.
The report also shows that the number residential sales dropped more than 43 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013 and more than 64 percent from the previous year.
“The market experienced rising prices due to overwhelming buyer interest in the extremely limited supply of homes for sale,” says Aleksandra Scepanovic, managing director of Ideal Properties Group. “Bidding wars for desirable properties have turned commonplace in Brownstone Brooklyn. With soaring rents afflicting the borough, higher interest rates seem to have done little to curtail demand, which in turn is continuing to fuel rising prices. And with 2013 having left many buyers in Brooklyn wanting for more, the constrained inventory may very well lead to prices escalating further in the new year.”
Condo sales in the Brownstone and North markets indicate the demand in the borough, with units in the area selling at an average of 27 percent higher than in the fourth quarter of 2012 showing an increase to $876,227, while the median sales prices increased 5 percent year-over-year to $671,857, according to the report.
The Brownstone Brooklyn and Beyond report looked at 1,545 closed sales transactions in Brooklyn’s most popular sales markets, including the following neighborhoods: The “North” section, which comprises Williamsburg, the Navy Yard, and Greenpoint; the “Northwest” or Brownstone section which is composed of Boerum Hill, Brooklyn Heights, Carroll, Gardens, Clinton Hill, Cobble Hill, Park Slope, Prospect Heights, Windsor Terrace, the Columbia Waterfront, Downtown, DUMBO, Fort Greene, Gowanus, Red Hook and Vinegar Hill.
The report also found that a majority of the sales activity took place in three neighborhoods, with Williamsburg representing 18.2 percent of all sales, followed by Park Slope and Downtown Brooklyn at 17.4 percent and 14 percent, respectively. Williamsburg’s sales prices reflected the aggressive bidding wars for condominium, as units typically sold at 107 percent of asking price. On the flip side, Brooklyn Heights ranked last in condo sales prices, but units in that neighborhood still managed to fetch 99 percent of the listing prices, according to the report.
Other notable statistics from the report included average home sales prices of $971,524 in Brownstone Brooklyn and North Brooklyn for the fourth quarter, with buyers in Brownstone Brooklyn markets interested in purchasing properties priced in the $500,000 to $999,000 range. According to the report, 41.9 percent of all sales fell within that price range.
The primary data for the report, which analyzed closed sales of individual, co-operative and condominium units and one- to three-family townhomes in Brooklyn, was derived from rolling sales reports issued by the New York City Department of Finance (ACRIS), and the REBNY Listings Service (RLS).