As Brooklyn Booms, So Do Real Estate Firms

Real estate firms have moved into Brooklyn in a big way, looking to capitalize on the popularity of the area and rising prices there. Big firms Brown Harris Stevens, Corcoran and Elliman “all increased their Brooklyn-agent head counts at least 32 percent in the last three years,” according to a long, data-based story in The Real Deal. Corcoran relocated its borough headquarters last year to One Pierrepont Plaza, as reported, and now has 100 desks there. Halstead has added the most new agents, “nearly quadrupling its number of Brooklyn-based brokers.” It acquired Brooklyn-based Aguayo Real Estate Group and its Park Slope office on 5th Avenue and, as already reported, opened a Bed Stuy office, which now has 13 agents. In 2011, Halstead had only 37 agents based in Brooklyn; now it has 135. Interestingly, the top five Brooklyn firms going by head count are not the same as the top five firms by dollar volume. By head count, the biggest firms are Corcoran, Douglas Elliman, Fillmore, Ideal Properties, and Rapid Realty. By listing dollar volume, the top five firms are Corcoran, Elliman, Fillmore, Halstead Property and RE/MAX Metro. Said the story:

With the Brooklyn brand now slapped on everything from Dubai diners to French clothing — and with a Park Slope resident in City Hall — Kings County has, perhaps, never seen its star shine brighter. And real estate firms are, not surprisingly, continuing to capture some of that glow.

Click through to The Real Deal for tons of detail on each firm’s performance. Ranking Brooklyn’s Top Residential Brokerages [TRD]