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Brooklyn and Queens Real Estate Prices Hit Record Highs Again

By Amy Zimmer | October 8, 2015 7:37am | Updated on October 9, 2015 7:29pm
 This 2-bedroom duplex with outdoor space at 1115 Prospect Ave. in Windsor Terrace is listed for $850,000 by Douglas Elliman. The price is around the median for Brooklyn, which is a record for the borough.
This 2-bedroom duplex with outdoor space at 1115 Prospect Ave. in Windsor Terrace is listed for $850,000 by Douglas Elliman. The price is around the median for Brooklyn, which is a record for the borough.
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Courtesy of Douglas Elliman

BROOKLYN — The average price of Brooklyn homes spiked 18 percent in the span of one year, hitting a record high of $856,839, according to the third quarter sales report released Thursday from Douglas Elliman.

Queens prices also hit new heights, jumping nearly 13 percent to a record of $522,378, the report found.

Brooklyn's prices were up across the board — whether for condos, co-ops or one to three-family homes — with the median sales price, which represents the middle of the market, rising more than 15 percent from a year ago to a record $676,250, the report found.

Low inventory continues to keep pressure on price, with the number of listings falling nearly 14 percent last quarter.

The inventory crunch also created a sense of urgency for buyers. The average number of days between a home hitting the market and going into contract shrank 40 percent year-over-year to a record low of 55 days, the Elliman report found.

"Rising sales and falling inventory, you put it together and it doesn't bode well for the buyer," said Jonathan Miller, real estate expert and author of the Elliman report who said he recently went to Shanghai and was struck by how many locals were wearing "Brooklyn, NY" T-shirts.

"It's a global brand," he said of the borough, which for several quarters now has been hitting record highs.

"It's no wonder you're seeing Queens prices rise and you're also seeing elevated activity in Westchester."

The suburban county saw sales activity hit a 34-year-high, and Miller believes some of that is attributable to spillover from the pricey real estate in the city.

Certain Brooklyn apartments flew off the shelves faster than others, according to the market report from Corcoran.

Apartments priced between $1 million and $2 million had the shortest marketing time of 44 days, while listings between $750,00 and $1 million and those over $2 million averaged around 60 days.

Two- and three-bedroom units found buyers faster than studio and one-bedroom listings, Corcoran found.

Homes in the Park Slope/Gowanus area had the shortest time on the market, shrinking to a mere 35 days, down nearly 30 percent from the year before.

The borough's largest median price gains were in the condo market of Carroll Gardens/Boerum Hill/Red Hook, where prices shot up 46 percent to $1.45 million, according to the Corcoran report.

Don't expect prices to drop dramatically any time soon.

"I think that inventory is the No. 1 question of what happens here," said Sarah Burke of Douglas Elliman, and with more new development coming on line this year in the borough geared toward the rental market rather than sales, she doesn't expect to see a dent in the inventory.

"Winter months may slightly slow the fast-paced market, but we are certain that as we finish the last quarter of 2015 and go into 2016, we will see record-breaking prices continue as inventory cannot match the tides of demand," said Aleksandra Scepanovic, managing director of Ideal Properties Group.

Her firm found that 57 percent of the properties it looked at for its market report focusing on North Brooklyn and the borough's brownstone neighborhoods sold for above the asking price.

Williamsburg ranked first in the number of sales, accounting for 26 percent of all transactions, followed by Park Slope, accounting for 19 percent of all sales, according to Ideal's report.