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August 14, 2007
Zillow: Heady Times for Brooklyn Condos
A spike in condo values is buoying Brooklyn’s residential market, according to Zillow.com’s second-quarter market report. The real estate website’s statistics— which differ from other reports in that its “Zindex” is a composite figure that purports to holistically track home values rather than sale price fluctuations—show that while Brooklyn home values posted marginal second-quarter increases, condo values were up a whopping 9.4 percent. In comparison, Brooklyn-wide home values increased a relatively staid 2.1 percent, to $645,618. Brooklyn’s average condo, meanwhile, was worth $529,278 during the period that ended in June, building on the 9.9 percent increase Zillow recorded in the first quarter. And how did brownstone Brooklyn neighborhoods fare? Carroll Gardens was the big winner, with a 5 percent increase over the first quarter, to $1.2 million; Brooklyn Heights, on the other hand, saw the biggest decline, with home values falling 7.4 percent, to $1.9 million.
While we'll admit to not totally understanding the secret sauce that goes into the “Zindex,” we're not necessarily ready to take these numbers on blind faith. Brooklyn Heights down more that 7 percent last quarter? Doubtful.
Quarterly Home Value Reports [Zillow]
REBNY: Prices Up Across the Board in Q2 [Brownstoner]
BHS Report: Brooklyn Up Less Than Manhattan [Brownstoner]
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Comments
This Zindex is just an excuse to get free press on blogs like this
Posted by: guest at August 14, 2007 10:32 AM
You can't have it both ways. Your headline says "heady times" based on the Zillow stats yet you question the negative ones about Brooklyn Heights.
I know this blog is pro-bubble, but that seems curious.
Posted by: guest at August 14, 2007 12:23 PM
BH down seven percent last quarter? Not just doubtful- laughable. Zillow sucks, as does property shark, when it comes to researching comps. They're always ridiculously wrong.
Posted by: Rehab at August 14, 2007 1:24 PM
12:23,
the headline reads that Zillow says that it's heady days for Brooklyn condos, not the Brownstoner.com says so...
Posted by: brownstoner at August 14, 2007 1:45 PM
i say thank god these sites aren't 100% accurate.
if they were, can you imagine trying to sell your property when everyone has access to every little detail of your home and it was all TOTALLY CORRECT!!??
yikes. sounds a little scary to me.
Posted by: guest at August 14, 2007 1:59 PM
Hi, it's David from Zillow,
The Zindex is simply the median Zestimate in the area - i.e. if you stack-ranked all homes' Zestimates from most to least value, the Zindex is the Zestimate value of the home in the middle of the list.
Zillow's data coverage in NYC could be better (and will improve) and that impacts Zestimate accuracy - but the beauty of using the median Zestimate to report on trends is that it effectively excludes wildly inaccurate Zestimates. The other reason the Zindex is a useful indicator of trends in house values is that it considers the value of all homes, not just those that recently sold as most housing reports do.
Posted by: guest at August 14, 2007 3:54 PM
Brownstoner, you're parsing. You know what the headline implies.
-guest 12:23
Posted by: guest at August 14, 2007 5:19 PM
Hi, it's Zmurfy from Zmurf.
The Zmurfex is zmurfly the zmurfy Zmurf in the zmurf...
Etc. Lol.
Posted by: guest at August 14, 2007 6:09 PM
So I just checked the zestimate for my old apartment (tiny, tiny prospect heights studio) and it says that thing is worth over $400,000. I have some doubts about the accuracy of this zestimating.
Posted by: guest at August 14, 2007 6:40 PM
Actually, 12:23, it's typical journalistic headline convention to say "Source: What the Source Says"; so we were just reporting that Zillow was saying that condos in Brooklyn were going strong.
Posted by: brownstoner at August 14, 2007 10:06 PM
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