Surprise, surprise—the new Douglas Elliman (DOUG) and Miller Samuel report shows that North Brooklyn home sales have more than tripled during the past year, which is just further evidence of expansion in an area that’s growing in popularity with the young people.
Sales in North Brooklyn, which includes Williamsburg and Greenpoint, went from 127 units at this time last year to 402 units in the second quarter of 2011, a significant increase that could partly be attributed to trendy new condo development The Edge. The complex has 565 units and, according to its website, is more than 50 percent sold.
Jonathan Miller, author of the report, agreed with us (that made us feel smart!) that The Edge could have a part in the major sales increase.
“Certainly, that’s part of it; just in general across the board there’s been a real uptick in new development sales,” Mr. Miller said “One out of four sales in Brooklyn are new development sales.”
And now is the time to buy, apparently: the median sales price in North Brooklyn is down 4.3 percent from this time last year, settling at $560,000. Mr. Miller does not think this is indicative of a trend, but says it might just depend on what type of properties are on the market (condos at The Edge range in price from $455,000 to $2.735 million).
“The pricing has been bouncing around over the last year, it’s been fluctuating from a low of $492,000 to a high of $638,000, so we’re right in the middle,” he said. “It’s been bouncing around and it’s sort of subject to the shift in the mix of what’s available. … The credit condition and climate condition hasn’t changed, this seems to be independent of that.”
pengel@observer.com
