Has the Buyers' Market Come to Brooklyn? Duh.
HMS Associates released some dismal, but not surprising news yesterday: Average Brooklyn home prices dropped two percent to $695,285 in Q3 of 2008 (from $708,457 in 2007), as opposed to a three percent rise in the first quarter and an eight percent rise in the second; we had one percent more sales (from 988 to…
HMS Associates released some dismal, but not surprising news yesterday: Average Brooklyn home prices dropped two percent to $695,285 in Q3 of 2008 (from $708,457 in 2007), as opposed to a three percent rise in the first quarter and an eight percent rise in the second; we had one percent more sales (from 988 to 999). Now for more not-very-surprising neighborhood breakdowns: prices were up in Brooklyn Heights and Prospect Heights and down in Sheepshead Bay, Greenpoint and Park Slope (well, maybe that’s a wee bit surprising). The number of homes sold went up in Carroll Gardens, Williamsburg and Marine Park and went down in Greenpoint, Fort Greene, and Brooklyn Heights. Bed Stuy, East New York and Brownsville weren’t included; had they been, the average prices would surely have been much lower. Poor Bed-Stuy was recently named by CNN as having one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country. We know our readers are very skeptical of numbers, but the authors of the study say they translate to one thing: a buyers’ market. Agree?
Photo by bondidwhat.
yeah, personal finance classes at school would be great. but considering they can’t even figure out how to teach basic reading and math in new york city, my faith isn’t high that such classes would have any effect, particularly for 18-year olds who are too immature to see their relevance. i agree with MM that this type of education ought to be coupled with the real decisionmaking – whether that’s buying a house, signing your first lease, getting your first credit card, etc. the smart thing to do is to require passing some kind of test as a major component of one’s credit score.
THAL – what’s with the name calling? You have to remember that for many first time buyers, the last 5 years or so have been painful. All these people with respectable jobs, and hard-won savings for a downpayment, being looked at by realtors as if they were paupers because the budgets they had (which in any other part of the country would be considered astronomical) were deemed chump change in NYC. I can tell you from personal experience that it’s very frustrating to feel like you’ve worked hard, you’ve scrimped and saved for the biggest investment of your life, one of the most important one you can make for your family – and you’re not given the time of day by realtors because your budget just does not cut it. For some of these buyers to now feel signs of excitement and hope that prices will become affordable does not make them losers. I know the pain of the economy will hurt many people, and those who will suffer deserve genuine sympathy, but what’s often forgotten in this equation is that the pain of the bubble – creating a crisis of affordable housing – hurt a lot of people too.
dear Z, MM is Montrose. Please don’t confuse me with your abbreviations. lets call Miss Muffet MsM.
I agree with MM, there should also be personal finance classes at school period, its a big gap in the cirriculum.
Montrose – I think your idea of requiring some preparation on the part of first time home-buyers is a great idea. I sure could have used this the first time I bought, and was lucky to have close family members, and my husband, who had much more experience buying real estate – but it can be complex. Sorting through the decisions of what kind of mortgage to get, the benefits of points vs. no points, understanding/budgeting closing costs, etc are all significant financial decisions that can be overwhelming for the 1st time buyer, especially when purchasing real estate can already be so emotionally daunting. That said, I think Brooklyn brownstones are not immune from foreclosure. I’ve seen some homes recently in prime areas being sold by owners who suddenly find themselves unable to pay their mortgage due to job loss, change in financial circumstances etc. The people who will suffer most in this downturn are those who stretched in the last 5 years and paid astronomical prices they can no longer afford and must sell at a loss – unlike the long-term owners (or even owners who bought longer than 5 years ago) who should do fine.
No it isnt a buyers market – because most sellers havent come to appreciate what is going to happen yet…..and are therefore unwilling to sell at the ‘true market’ – which is down 20% at least from the high.
A real buyers market comes when sellers shift from resisting selling at a declined market price – because they believe a higher price will come sooner rather then latter to a situation where sellers are willing to take ANY market price because they believe that the future market price will likely be even lower.
Sellers in Brooklyn are still operating under the 1st premise….they are in for an awakening unless they are prepared to wait 10yrs minimum for prices to come back to anything like the recent past (just like what happened in ’93-’03)
“I would be willing to bet a majority are new construction, 3 family Fedders houses, concentrated on the fringes of BS. Corporations like United Homes, and many fly by night developer corporations with very convenient in house mortgage companies attached to them are being investigated for fraud and deceptive lending practices.”
AND houses in the “Brownstone Belt” or to the Asshats “Brownstone Brooklyn”!!!!
Morgan Stanley Cuts Institutional Securities, Asset Management
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=awR_oi0e_HPY&refer=home
“The slides today also said the firm’s institutional securities business, which includes investment banking and trading, plans to “re-size cost base and headcount to match current opportunities.”
See ya later and the exit is that way—–>
The What (But.. but Real Estate only goes up…)
Someday this war is gonna end…
If wanting to pay a reasonable price for a home somewhere within a 40 minute commute to my place of employment makes me a loser and a “tool bag”, then I’m happy to be a loser and a tool bag.
I’m sorry for all the people who are losing money on their home values right now, but those of us in careers other than banking, medicine and law would like to own our homes, too.
MM, that’s a pretty good idea, and the climate is perfect for implementing such a requirement now. buying a home is a big, complicated transaction that isn’t right for everyone.