Following the unprecedented drop in rent prices during the first half of 2021, the second half of the year yielded an enormous comeback, bringing with it, both positive and negative consequences for the 2022 real estate market.
As the pandemic continues into its third year, and offices are still allowing their employees to work from home, the amount of space available in an apartment has become a critical component for buyers when searching for a place to call home.
In their “January 2022 Market Reports,” NYC’s leading real estate marketplace, StreetEasy, conducted research to determine which neighborhoods are offering the most space, for the least amount of money— and in turn, created the ultimate reference document for prospective New York City homeowners.
The StreetEasy data team analyzed the median asking price per square foot (PPSF) in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens, in an effort to identify which neighborhoods are seeing a decrease in PPSF, and which are seeing an increase.
“There is a real separation between what is happening in Manhattan and the rest of New York City right now,” stated StreetEasy Economist Nancy Wu. “The price for a single square foot of space in Manhattan is more than double Brooklyn and Queens.”
According to the StreetEasy data, the five neighborhoods with the highest median asking price per square foot in New York City are located in Manhattan, with the PPSF surging to $1,612, a jump of about 11.1% since last January. In contrast, the top five neighborhoods with the lowest median asking PPSF, were all in Queens, with the exception of one, which was Brownsville, Brooklyn, featuring a $348 median asking PPSF, and a drop of 0.6% since 2021.
This drastic difference in pricing is mostly driven by the high demand for “luxury Manhattan homes,” according to Wu. “As inventory rises, sellers may need to adjust their pricing down if they want to attract buyers who are also considering much larger homes just across the bridge.”
While property prices in Manhattan increased over the last year, both Brooklyn and Queens experienced the converse effects, rendering Queens the ideal neighborhood for buyers who are seeking to optimize the amount of money they spend to obtain the most square footage.
Among the three boroughs analyzed, Queens was the only one to see a decrease in median asking price. StreetEasy researchers revealed the price in January to be $584,000, an approximate 5.7% decrease from last year. While in Brooklyn, the median asking price remained unchanged from last year, plateauing at $899,900.
The reason for this unaffected price, according to Wu, was because of “larger homes coming onto the market for lower prices,” which she said, “contributed to the price per square foot dropping while the overall median stayed the same.”
For anyone looking to prioritize more space for less, looking outside of Manhattan, according to the StreetEasy analysts,“is almost a no-brainer.”
Although Wu believes that the research should not inhibit buyers from continuing their search for apartments in Manhattan, especially because the borough’s real estate market may begin “to cool off soon with new inventory set to hit the market this spring,” said Wu.
Read the full report at streeteasy.com.
