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You Can Still Find a Deal on a Home in East Flatbush, Analysis Shows

By Rachel Holliday Smith | February 27, 2017 7:33am | Updated on February 27, 2017 8:49am

EAST FLATBUSH — Want a house in Brooklyn for a (relative) bargain? Look in East Flatbush, but make it quick — the market is already heating up, according to a new analysis.

The average price of listings for the 10 most affordable houses, townhouses and multi-family homes in the neighborhood this month was $302 per square foot, according to real estate analytics website NeighborhoodX.

That figure is considerably lower than many popular Brooklyn neighborhoods, including East Flatbush’s neighbor Prospect-Lefferts Gardens where the average multi-family home goes for $447 per square foot and townhouses sell for $702 per square foot, according to new data.

The least expensive listing by square footage NeighorhoodX looked at, 188 E. 53rd St., was listed at $535,000, or $164 per square foot. The most expensive listing in the top 10 was the considerably smaller house at 272 Dorset St. with an asking price of $439,000, or $442 per square foot.

East Flatbush's prices are giving buyers looking for more space in the area an incentive to look east, said NeighborhoodX co-founder Constantine Valhouli.

“The least expensive townhouse in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens — the absolute bargain basement product, the best bargain hunter’s find — is more expensive, on a per square foot basis, than the most expensive one in East Flatbush,” he said.

NeighborhoodX defines East Flatbush as the area east of Rogers Avenue to Rockaway Parkway, bounded by Empire Boulevard to the north and Avenue H to the south.

The data from the area, culled from listings that exclude foreclosures, residences that need significant renovations, and properties with long-term rent-stabilized tenants, shows a relatively affordable neighborhood for the borough, Valhouli said. (In comparison, the average one- to three-family home in Brooklyn overall costs $459 per square foot, as of the end of 2016, NeighborhoodX found.)

But analysis also shows an area where the market is seeing more demand, he said. At the high end of the most affordable listings, the price per square foot is clustered between $424 and $442 per square foot.

“When you see a range and you see a spike at the higher end, it suggests that there’s intrinsic value, lifestyle value, to the neighborhood that other people are willing to pay more for,” Valhouli said.

That being said, Valhouli added, buyers looking first and foremost for a cheap property are still going to find it in East Flatbush.

“Are there still bargains available at the lower end of the price range? Over here, yes,” he said.