There are some new Q3 reports in for Brooklyn from both Prudential Douglas Elliman and Corcoran. The layman's conclusion is that things are starting to suck but they could be sucking a lot worse, so there's a silver lining. In more concrete terms, we begin with Elliman's report from Jonathan Miller which finds "broad disparity in price trends" depending on the part of Brooklyn one is considering. North Brooklyn is doing best and is the only region to show an increase in median sale prices over the same quarter last year. "Much of this increase was attributable to condo sales added to the housing stock in Williamsburg and Greenpoint, which comprised 83.2% of all sales in North Brooklyn." (Bronze plaque for Karl Fischer in McCarren Park, stat, please.) Overall, median sales price slipped 5.6% to $510,000 from the prior year's quarter result of $540,000 and average sales price declined 4.7% to $575,287 over the prior year quarter result of $603,428. The really bad news: the number of sales dropped 38.2% this quarter to 2,298 units as compared to the 3,718 units sold in the prior year quarter. There were 660 condo sales in Brooklyn in Q3, which given the amount of inventory coming on the market may cause serious loosening of the bowels for some developers. The only thing that may keep some from sending an administrative assistant from dashing for a case of Imodium is that condo sales in the Burg and Greenpoint were actually up 57% in Q3 versus Q2. On the other hand, we're still only talking about 191 units. So, maybe they should keep the bottle nearby.
Corcoran has also unloaded a Q3 report for Brooklyn. It starts out by saying that "Like other parts of the city, Brooklyn has seen a more modest increase in 2008 compared to the exuberant early part of the decade." But, wait, it says that "it’s not surprising that the Brooklyn residential real estate market is experiencing growth and demand." For Q3 it says that the median price for an apartment increased 8% from $575,000 to $623,000. Alas, the number of sales was down 18% as co-op sales dropped off from the same time one year ago. Median prices for studio in condos are down 17%, while overall condo prices are down 4%. The reason a bloodbath isn't taking place is that median coop prices went up 20% in Q3 '08 vs '07.
· Market Reports [Prudential Douglas Elliman]
· Brooklyn Home Sale Prices Down [TRD]
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