Tariffs, Volatility, Turnkey Properties: What's Happening With Real Estate Now

Brownstoner: What are you seeing right now in the real estate market in Brooklyn and what is your outlook for the rest of 2025? Are you feeling any impact from the November election?

Alexander Maroni
Douglas Elliman

One of the trends that I’m very aware of is there’s still a big premium for brand new townhouses and condos. I think there’s very little appetite for people to take on projects right now.

I see the strongest demand for a-plus locations, you know, the best blocks, people will pay to be exactly where they want to be. I still see Cobble Hill as being extremely strong, Brooklyn Heights, the best blocks in Carroll Gardens and Park Slope still being very, very strong.

As far as the impact of the election, there’s more certainty now than there was through last year. Uncertainty is never good, people wait until after the election is over to make a decision.

Rates are still too high, although, you know the stock market, the recent tumult, it’s actually good for interest rates. When the stock market goes bad, people want to put their money into real estate, tangible assets.

Ravi Kantha
Serhant

Predicting this year is probably the hardest thing on earth, right now. I think we have had two very slow years in New York City on sales velocity. And the pent-up demand amongst buyers is real. You can feel it. When there is good product out there at a fair price, it goes and it goes quickly. Conversely, though, nobody wants to do work, nobody wants to do renovation. I think one of the residual effects of Covid has been that people are less patient than they ever were.

It’s almost like a tale of two cities where the renovated, turnkey product in prime locations has multiple offers over asking price, crazy numbers. And then, you know, down the block, there’s something that sits on the market because it’s not turnkey. It used to be that that attitude was reserved for estate-condition sales but now people are looking at renovations that are 10 or 12 years old and saying it’s going to be too much.

Tariffs are still a little tricky, what they’ve done to the real estate market is inject uncertainty and that is a really challenging thing for sellers and buyers alike.

The other piece of this is what the stock market is doing. People who are heavily exposed to the market are obviously not feeling great right now. There are so many things pulling the market in different ways that there are some winners here.

People who are waiting for mortgage rates and have the liquidity aside, and were not impacted by the stock market, they’ve got a good buying opportunity, when rates are lower. The flip side, if you work in the luxury markets in New York City, there’s a lot of people who benefit from high volatility, specifically, in the hedge fund world. I don’t have a lot of hedge fund clients who don’t come out of volatile markets happier than when they went into them. So there’s an element of that.

It’s going to be a really tricky year, I think, on volume. We probably end up a little bit better than last year, but not as much as people had hoped.

Since the beginning of 2025, we’re off to a very robust start. Properties are getting lots and lots of attention. I’m getting many bidding wars; things are going for over ask.

I believe the marketplace has gotten comfortable with the new normal, which is that interest rates are going to be north of six, where I think a lot of people in the fall were on the sidelines, hoping rates would come back down, and also waiting for the election to take place, which I see happen every time there’s election.

Very bullish on the real estate market for 2025, things are going very, very well. And also the current events happening, there is talk of two consecutive rate cuts, which will also stimulate the real estate market, and a lot of people also I’m hearing are fleeing the stock market by putting their money into hard assets, real estate, gold, so I’m seeing that.

So while some people have lost money in their portfolio values, including myself, people are fleeing to hard assets. I own several buildings in Park Slope and that’s solid, the rents are good, the buildings are good, the values are great.

Editor’s note: Interviews have been edited and condensed.