Real Estate Market's Doing Just Fine, Thanks
According to the most authoritative source of data, the city’s assessment roll, rumors of the New York real estate market’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. After a slowed rate of increase in 2005, property values around the five boroughs posted strong double-digit increases in 2006, with the Bronx and Brooklyn leading the way with jumps…
According to the most authoritative source of data, the city’s assessment roll, rumors of the New York real estate market’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. After a slowed rate of increase in 2005, property values around the five boroughs posted strong double-digit increases in 2006, with the Bronx and Brooklyn leading the way with jumps of 27.6%. While people predicted that the sales prices were coming down, they haven’t been coming down, said Martha E. Stark, the city’s finance commissioner. It might take a little longer to sell something, but actually, the prices have been holding.
Property Values in New York Show Vibrancy [NY Times]
Higher Assessments Mean Higher Taxes [NY Post]
We moved from Brooklyn to the northern burbs 3 years ago. It’s a transition, but I love it here. I visit friends in Brooklyn (and still read Brownstoner!), but I’ve never regretted the move. Of the 5 houses that have sold nearby since we moved in, they’ve all been bought by people moving from the city (2 families from the Slope and the rest from Manhattan). I think at least half of our friends here are from Park Slope! Personally I haven’t heard of anyone moving back to the city. Life here is not for everyone, but I love that my kids are growing up somewhere beautiful and safe with lots of room for them to run and explore. As for missing city life, there are a lot of great restaurants, stores, two art film theaters, galleries, and a number of small modern art museums nearby. And the people are great. Prices increased about 50% but then dropped by about 5% in the last quarter of ’06. Now they seem to be rising again.
More suburban? The outer-boroughs were always the suburbs of Manhattan. The middle-class white people (which I assume to are the EVIL doing all this) always lived in NYC, but when the race riots started happening, they all fled to the ‘burbs.
NYC is becoming what it was pre-1960s. It’ll take another 1960s-70s to get people to flee the city again.
I moved from Bklyn to Beacon (but kept my Bklyn place so I don’t miss it too much) and it’s starting to look like Park Slope here! I’m waiting to see the Bugaboos on Main Street. Perhaps your typical suburban folks are moving back to the city (which is the reason the 5 boros are becoming more suburban), but the “hipper” outlying areas are getting flooded with ex NYers, mostly in the creative field, as 10:25 mentioned. I call Beacon “Brooklyn on the Hudson” now. But yeah, prices have dropped here and have actually gone up in gentrifying Bklyn areas.
Sylvia, I am confused by the chart too. Does anyone get it?
I know 3 people who have moved out of NYC to the suburbs in the last year, so I agree with with 10:25 that there is movement that way. 10:36, welcome back.
could the city’s findings be influenced by it’s desire to increase real estate tax proceeds??
I moved to Brooklyn from the burbs! We missed city life so much that we sacrificed space to get back.
Charlie @ 10:09, I suppose it is an income thing, but most people I know are moving to the suburbs, not vice versa. Many young parents I know have recently moved out of Brooklyn since they cannot afford anything they are willing to live in. Whereas they can get nice houses in good areas for around a million in the burbs. The people I’m talking about are all editors, designers, and architects, and their combined income is about 125K to 250K, so it is a different group. I haven’t heard of anyone moving to Brooklyn from the burbs. If I needed more space, I could never afford to upgrade in the city. If prices continue to increase, this trend will continue and Brooklyn will be full of wealthy Manhattanites and all the cool young families will have left.
Wait. Isn’t that 27.6% figure a prediction? It’s for fiscal year 2008. I don’t get it. As far as I know, we’re not in fiscal year 2008 yet. That doesn’t start till July, right? Why is the city predicting that the average property will have such a huge increase in value if values dropped in fiscal year 2007 (just look at the chart)? Are they calling the bottom?
That’s kind of insane. Even if the average property (that has sold) has sold for more money, there’s no way you can just ignore the whole rising inventory problem when you’re trying to predict property values. If inventory is rising, then prices are going to be forced down. It’s not just that houses take “a little longer” to sell.
Am I missing something?
The price increases have mostly been seen in the areas where there has been the greatest development ie: Williamsburg, Fort Greene (wait until the condos, at Hanson Place Place begin to close) and certain areas of the “new” Park Slope. Also certan parts of Gravesend and other less areas in Kensington,etc.. New development raises the square foot prices of everything surrounding that area. People are moving back from the suburbs. Many individuals who begin life in Manhattan in a one or two bedroom cannot make the jump to larger quarters there as the prices are materially higher and in the better buildings they don’t have the net worth requirement to pass the board.
There are a lot of pessimistic people out there who don’t quite understand that a large portion of dual income families who make between $350,000 and $750,000 per year who cannot afford to live in Manhattan (the way they want to). There are probably at this hundreds of these folks coming to Brooklyn…. principally to Park Slope, Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, Fort Greene, etc.. and they are finding not much on the market to look at (very different picture than the burbs where there is an over supply). This will keep the prices firm at least for the near future. Done houses and apartments will fetch higher asking prices that are within reason. ando