East Brooklyn home prices are surging despite a winter chill in the market that’s slowing the sales growth for the rest of the borough and Manhattan, according to a report released Friday.
StreetEasy’s survey found that Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brownsville, Bushwick, Crown Heights and East New York had a combined median sales price of $494,564 last month, a 25.3% growth from the same period last year. The jump is part of an overall trend for the borough which saw an overall jump of 8.5% in median sales from January 2015 and is now $540,186.
Although Manhattan’s median prices were close to a million dollars, it only represented a 5.3% change during the same time period, according to StreetEasy. Manhattan’s lack of new inventory combined with its 90-day median on the market, make it less attractive to the growing number of options in Brooklyn and its slightly lower median of 85 days.
“Sellers in this market may discover that they cannot set prices and expectations high with the anticipation of a quick sale,” StreetEasy data scientist Alan Lightfeldt said in a statement.
Although the slowdown comes from the usual winter real estate lull period, StreetEasy’s experts added that there is a bit of hesitation from buyers that comes into play. Last month, condo sales had a median of 103 days on the market in Brooklyn and 91 days in Manhattan.
This represented a jump increase of 45 and 11 days, respectively, from January 2015. Lightfeldt predicted activity will pick up in the near future.
“The market is starting to look more like 2013, a period of stable growth before the surge of 2014 and 2015,” he said in a statement.
The report comes at a time when East New York is gearing up for a potential change to their real estate environment.
The city is in the process of rezoning 200 blocks in the neighborhood that would allow for new mixed used residential and commercial properties as tall as 14 stories to be built along Atlantic Avenue, Fulton Street, Pitkin Avenue, Liberty Avenue and other streets. The rezoning, which was approved by the City Planning Commission Wednesday, calls for 6,000 new housing units but more than half would be designated affordable.
Some community groups and elected officials, such as Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, oppose the rezoning plan, saying that the number affordable apartments will be out of the price range for the poorest residents, but the mayor’s office has reassured that the plan will help those Brooklynites.
The council will vote on the plan this spring.
Here is a breakdown on median resale prices last month, according to StreetEasy.
Manhattan Overall $991,468, Annual Change: 5.3%
Downtown:$1,242,329 Annual Change: 5.9%
Upper West Side:$1,077,458 Annual Change: 6.1%
Upper East Side:$995,600 Annual Change: 5.8%
Midtown:$849,933 Annual Change: 2.2%
Upper Manhattan: $623,017 Annual Change: 10.3%
Brooklyn Overall:$540,186 Annual Change: 8.5%
North Brooklyn $923,987 Annual Change: 7.7%
East Brooklyn $494,564 Annual Change: 25.3%
Northwest Brooklyn $784,214 Annual Change: 4.7%
Prospect Park $804,491 Annual Change: 10.3%
South Brooklyn $390,657 Annual Change: 7.6%
