New York City’s Fastest-Selling Neighborhood: Brooklyn

If you’re looking for apartments in Brooklyn, you need to move fast. The borough has become New York City’s fastest-selling neighborhood due to what’s been happening in the real estate market in recent months.

Brooklyn Homes Flying Off The Market

According to a recent StreetEasy market report, the median time a city home spent on the market in February was 88 days. However, looking at median times in specific boroughs, Brooklyn apartments for sale spent only 79 days on the market, making it the fastest of all the boroughs analyzed.

February also saw 4,078 sellers list their homes across New York City. This was the highest number of listings to come onto any market in February for which StreetEasy has records. The previous record high number of February listings was in 2018 when 3,358 homes were listed.

February’s median days on market (DOM) were a sign of exciting things to come. By April this year, it was evident that the city’s real estate market was heating up. Another StreetEasy market report revealed that the median time city homes spent on the market that month had shrunk to 46 days. This was 20 days shorter than April 2021’s median DOM of 66 days. April’s median DOM also was the shortest time homes spent on the market since April 2016, when the median was only 44 days. There’s no denying that the market is competitive and buyer demand is strong.

Prices Are Increasing

Increased demand for Brooklyn apartments for sale, and for homes for rent or for sale in other neighborhoods, comes with something that sellers appreciate and that buyers and renters dread: higher prices.

StreetEasy’s April market report (for all of New York City) showed that the median asking price for a city home reached $995,000, which was a 4.7 percent increase year-over-year. The median asking price was also at its highest since June 2019. Furthermore, the number of homes that entered contract remained near the record highs we saw in spring last year. 

That trend was consistent in Brooklyn, as April saw the borough reach pre-Covid prices. The median asking price that month was $975,000, which was a 6.6 percent increase year-over-year. $975,000 was also the highest median asking price in the borough since May 2019.

April was a particularly good month for Manhattan, where 1,525 homes went under contract. This figure was the highest seen in the borough since May 2013. What makes this even more impressive is that the median asking price in the borough climbed to $1.45 million that month, which was a 7.4 percent increase year-over-year, even if that price is still lower than what we saw pre-pandemic.

Unlike Brooklyn, Queens bucked the trend, as the borough saw median prices drop to $599,450, which was a 2.5 percent decrease year-over-year.

In April, 19,000 homes were listed across the city – a number that almost approached the 20,735 listed in spring 2019.  If you can afford to buy an apartment in Brooklyn or another borough, you may have several to choose from.

When it comes to New York apartments for rent, you might not have it so easy. Not only did the market start returning to its high prices at the end of last year, it also has been looking a little thin. There were less than 10,000 available rental units across Brooklyn, Manhattan, and parts of Queens in April.

Rents in Downtown Brooklyn and the borough’s Dumbo, Gowanus, Red Hook, and Vinegar Hill neighborhoods, as well as in Hunters Point, Queens, ranged from $3,075 to $5,000 per month in this year’s first quarter. In Manhattan, the median rent that quarter was $3,700.

Don’t waste time if you’re thinking about a new home. Let Platinum Properties help you find your place and make your move.