B'kln Townhouse Prices May Not Rise Forever
March 16, 2006 — Townhouse sales in Brooklyn surged during the second half of 2005 as a strong economy and low interest rates attracted buyers, according to a report released today by Halstead Properties. Yet Halsted Chief Economist Gregory Heym said the market may change as supply begins to catch up with demand. The balance…
March 16, 2006 — Townhouse sales in Brooklyn surged during the second half of 2005 as a strong economy and low interest rates attracted buyers, according to a report released today by Halstead Properties. Yet Halsted Chief Economist Gregory Heym said the market may change as supply begins to catch up with demand. The balance has shifted and buyers have more options, he said, noting that the borough now has more than 200,000 townhouses. Inventory has loosened and there are more apartments on the market, but the pace is slowing down from a record.
During the second half of 2005, townhouse prices in Greenpoint and Williamsburg rose fastest, with the average reaching $751,095, up 58% from a year earlier, partly because the average size of the homes grew. On a per-square-foot basis, prices were up 21%. Other areas in Brooklyn also saw solid gains during the second half of 2005: prices in Bedford Stuyvesant, Clinton Hill and Fort Greene rose 39%, to an average $594,481; townhouses in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn Heights, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill and Park Slope sold for an average $1.5 million, up 25%; and prices in Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst, and Dyker Heights climbed 22%, to an average $726,965.
BK Townhouse Prices May Slow [Crain’s]
Friend of mine bought a brownstone on East 92nd between Park and Madison for $60,000 in 1970. It is now valued at $7 million. That’s 100 times more in 35 years. Yes, 60,000 then is not 60,000 now — but 100 times???? Yes, it took 30 years, but people who buy homes (not “houses,” or “condos” but homes) expect to keep them that long, or longer. There’s no doubt in my mind that a brownstone is the MOST solid investment you can make over the long term.As someone said earlier: brownstones are a rare and finite resource. If you can afford it, I don’t care where you buy one, buy it and help make your community the kind you would want your children to grow up in. The risk will always be worth it.
Bed Stuy is just too big to characterize with one sweeping term. I wonder if it will be broken-up in people’s minds into micro-neighborhoods like the Hudson Heights neighborhood from Washington Heights at large.
Again we are TALKING GHETTO BED STUY AND YOU DO OR DIE. MOSTLY DIE IF YOU ARE STUPID TO BUY A HOUSE THERE
“eems like most folks took the oppty to build their case and “confirm their opinion” that the sky is falling.”
Or to confirm their opinion that it’s not. It works both ways – people hear what they want to and interpret in ways that work best for them.
It does seem unfair to compare condo buyers with brownstoner buyers, even where prices are similar. They’re doing nothing but making more condos, whereas there are no more brownstones going up. Although I don’t generally buy the “they’re no making any more land” type of arguments, they literally aren’t making anymore brownstones, and if people aren’t selling them, the supply isn’t there.
That said, it doesn’t mean prices can’t fall – if areas people banked on “coming up” don’t and those people decide to move, and if there are no buyers – that could bring up supply – there are ao many factors involved in real estate that it’s just too hard to predict, really.
Could not wait to read the discussion thread on this…most folks miss the economists point and take what they want – he noted that the rising of prices will slow, but not that prices will fall.Seems like most folks took the oppty to build their case and “confirm their opinion” that the sky is falling. Nah, just slowing down its meteoric rise of the past decade…and that is healthy overall so bring it on I say….
the 595K fg/ch/bs brownstone…i want one…
doesn’t this point out that no high-end properties actually turn over in these areas? i think that steepness of falling prices will be a function of supply and i just don’t see it…
who do you personally know that owns high-end brooklyn property and would be a forced seller? i can see forced selling of condos and steep price declines but while seeing falling brownstone prices think it will be more gradual…
brownstone prices are going to be far more driven by crime rates in marginal neighborhoods…
In some cases a condo or other types of housing are substitute goods for a brownstone so all available housing will affect brownstone prices.
It’s a different buyer who buys townhouses than those who buy condos. Just because there are more condos on the market does not mean that townhouse prices will fall.
They aren’t building any more brownstones. Supply is never going to increase. To say that brownstone prices will fall because there are more condos on the market is absurd.
anon 9:56–
Because you don’t just buy a house. If housing stock alone was all that mattered, Bed Stuy, or parts of it, would be the most expensive neighborhood in Brooklyn.