The first quarter sales reports are in for Brooklyn, and the news isn’t great for buyers: the median sale price for the borough is now at an all-time high. According to Douglas Elliman’s report, that figure is now $770,000, up from $662,431 a year ago—marking the third consecutive rise in Brooklyn’s median home price. (Recall that it was just $750,000 when we looked at Brooklyn sale prices in January.)
The average sales price, too, hit a record at $993,955. That’s 25 percent higher from last year, when the average was $795,409.
According to Douglas Elliman, new development closings at condos are to blame for the surge in prices—and also led to an uptick in the number of sales for the quarter, with 2,800, or 46.4 percent higher than last year. The listing inventory fell 19.9 percent, making this the second lowest inventory tracked in nine years.
As a result, this was the fastest paced market Brooklyn has seen in nine years.
The median price for a condo this quarter was $929,000, 26.1 percent higher than a year ago. The co-op median was $389,000, while the median for luxury sales was $2,545,625—37.2 percent higher than a year ago.
Halstead’s Brooklyn report told a similar tale of price jumps: According to that brokerage, new development in Kings County averaged $1,270,059, a 68 percent increase from a year ago, while the average apartment price in the borough rose 38 percent over the past year to $922,134. Brooklyn townhouses saw an 11 percent increase over the past year, averaging a record $1,084,717. This comes out to $460 per square foot, an increase from the $438 price point at the same time last year.
Prices were particularly high in Brownstone Brooklyn neighborhoods, where there was a pickup in new development closings, and North Brooklyn, where the average apartment price is now $1,108,135.
In Central Brooklyn, apartments sold for an average of $636,544, a nine percent gain from a year ago. The area also saw median townhouse prices increase a total of 12 percent to $795,000.
“Consumer sentiment improved as buyer hesitancy of the previous two quarters faded and people committed to buying now,” per Corcoran’s sales report. “New development closed sales soared upward as a number of large-scale projects began unit closings.” Finally, the demand for new developments, particularly larger residences at price points that are hard to find in Manhattan, drove the overall prices higher.
The firm found that for this quarter, there were three properties—The Boerum, 51 Jay, and The Oosten (pictured above)—that claimed nearly two-thirds of all new development closings. New development throughout the borough saw an absolutely mind-boggling 82 percent increase in closed sales.
Corcoran found that market-wide closed sales increased seven percent compared to last year, while signed contracts rose 14 percent versus year ago. Sales were particularly high in Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, Dumbo and Downtown, with a nearly 100 percent increase in closings for Q1.
Inventory, however, was down for lower-priced apartments like co-ops and condo resales—which isn’t great for those who aren’t looking to drop a ton of cash on a brand-new place.
- The Elliman Reports: Brooklyn, Queens & Riverdale Sales [Douglas Elliman]
- Halstead’s First Quarter 2017 Brooklyn Market Report [PDF] [Halstead]
- Corcoran's Q1 Brooklyn Market Report [PDF] [Corcoran]