Brooklyn Rents Fall Slightly While Commercial Sales Soar

While overall Brooklyn rents dipped slightly in the last year, average Bushwick rents jumped from $1,853 to $2,005 since December 2012, the largest change of any Brooklyn neighborhood and an indication of high prices in Williamsburg pushing up rents nearby, according to a December report from MNS. In the same vein, Greenpoint saw the most new development sales in Brooklyn, with median price-per-foot jumping 20 percent to $814 in the last month. Average Greenpoint rents also rose 1.5 percent to $2,809 in the last year. And Bed Stuy and Crown Heights rents saw big rent increases of 6.5 percent and 10.8 percent, respectively, in the last year.

Meanwhile, 1,388 commercial properties changed hands last year for a total dollar volume of $4,050,000,000, which was a 31 pecent increase in the number of transactions, Ariel Property Advisors noted in their year-end report. Last year’s most expensive commercial sales included the Jehovah’s Witnesses iconic Watchtower buildings in Dumbo, which sold for $240,000,000, an apartment building at 110 Green Street in Greenpoint ($72,000,000), a 690,000-square-foot industrial site in Sunset Park ($91,500,000), and a massive commercial site and garage at 49 Bond Street in downtown Brooklyn ($70,000,000).