Local Real Estate Prices Down Slightly, Brownstones Continue Rise Due To Low Inventory, Niche Market

As one of Southern Brooklyn’s more expensive hoods, a slight dip in Bay Ridge real estate prices over the last year should come as *slightly* good news for potential homebuyers, as reported by Guelda Voien for real estate website The Real Deal .

However, if you prefer an older, more historic home, just bear in mind that lower inventories are continuing to push brownstone prices up – potentially placing townhouse living outside the reach of even many upper middle class purchasers.

From Real Deal:

The Elliman report, which tracks co-op, condominium and one- to three-family homes in Brooklyn, showed the median sales price in the borough was $586,000, up 2 percent year-over-year. The median sales price for Brooklyn brownstones, however, was $1.3 million — up 9.5 percent year-over-year, according to Elliman’s numbers.

“The standout is the brownstone market, a small niche, with only 3 percent of the Brooklyn market [share],” Miller said. “But it is the highest-priced housing stock.”

Brown Harris Stevens’ report for the borough showed an increase of 13 percent in median prices, to $890,000, in the Brooklyn Heights, Carroll Gardens and Cobble Hill neighborhoods, where many brownstones are located. But despite its reputation as an up-and-coming area, prices in Clinton Hill/Fort Greene dropped year-over-year to $470,000, from $490,000. Prices also fell in the Bay Ridge/Sunset Park area, to $275,000, from $284,000 year-over-year, according to BHS.

Jonathan Miller, as president of real estate analytics firm Miller Samuel and author of Prudential Douglas Elliman’s market report, told Real Deal that while sales volume is up, many buyers still seem to be waiting out the market.

“Buyers are waiting until the market improves,” Miller said.

Miller also gave the caveat that normal seasonal conditions might explain the rise in sales.

“That’s a normal and healthy ebb and flow, moving into the second quarter,” Miller told Real Deal. “That’s going to either stabilize or firm up pricing,” he said, adding that while there are bidding wars breaking out over apartments, belligerents are only going “up to list price, not above.”

So while properly restored Victorian era homes continue to fetch big bucks in a high demand niche market with limited supply, local developers continue to do stuff like this – so that they can build stuff like this.