The Housing Crisis Has Arrived
That’s according to the Daily News, which dissects the unraveling economy’s effect on middle class housing here. In the outer boroughs, “house sales are falling faster than the Dow.” In the last four years, they say, Brooklyn has seen a 52.7 percent drop in home sales, from 12,089 to 5,716; that’s 37.5 percent this year…
That’s according to the Daily News, which dissects the unraveling economy’s effect on middle class housing here. In the outer boroughs, “house sales are falling faster than the Dow.” In the last four years, they say, Brooklyn has seen a 52.7 percent drop in home sales, from 12,089 to 5,716; that’s 37.5 percent this year alone. A couple of other articles spotlight individual homes in hard hit neighborhoods. In Sheepshead Bay, one family purchased a $630,000 attached brick home last year and couldn’t keep up on mortgage payments; the house has been on the market since early summer. In Greenpoint, a family has been trying to trade up from a north Brooklyn condo to a home in Westchester, but even after they lowered the price, no go: interested buyers couldn’t get financing. In Bushwick, a woman’s home is in foreclosure after tenants didn’t cough up the rent. And in Park Slope, a couple offered less than asking price, citing condo projects in the area that haven’t sold at all; they call it a “buyer’s market.” Their offer was accepted. Meanwhile, other neighborhoods poised to be the next Slope or ‘Burg are hurting, too, they write.
Trendy Neighborhoods Can’t Escape Housing Slump [NY Daily News]
City’s Housing Market Hammered in Fallout from Woeful Economy [NY Daily News]
Photo by Runs With Scissors.
“Purchases increased 2.7 percent”
And from Marketwatch:
“Government statisticians have low confidence in the monthly report, which is subject to large revisions and sampling and other statistical errors. In most months, the government isn’t sure whether sales rose or fell. The standard error in September, for instance, was plus or minus 12.1%.”
this actually sounds pretty good for bed stuy no? prices may actually dip into not-completely-out-of-the-question for the few people out there who actually have properly prepared to buy and own a home.
The Bushwick woman is a mail handler who bought a house for $455K, then took out another mortgage for $585K. that totally sucks that the tenants stiffed her, but her precarious situation doesn’t seem to be an effect of the mortgage crisis so much as this kind of cautionary tale we’ve all hear about in years past.
dosteov…read MM’s post above at 10:03. Those Patchen Ave homes are hardly representative of most of Bed Stuy.
Article paints a pretty bleak picture for BedStuy.
Oct. 27 (Bloomberg) — Sales of new houses in the U.S.
unexpectedly rose in September from a 17-year low, propelled by a drop in prices ahead of the latest turmoil in financial markets.
Purchases increased 2.7 percent to an annual rate of 464,000 from 452,000 the prior month that was less than previously estimated, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. The median sales price decreased to a four-year low.
There is demand out there at these prices!!!! This is a big change from how things were going 2,3,6 months ago!!!
If you get past the sky is falling hyperbole of the DN article, it doesn’t say much that is not evident to even the casual observer of real estate trends. In the Bed Stuy part of the story, a tale of 2 boarded up Patchen Ave foreclosures across the street from some fugly new construction is hardly proof that Bed Stuy is “overâ€. Boarded up foreclosures are not homes lost by long time, or even recent on site owners, they are more likely run down wrecks that would be flippers couldn’t unload. Patchen is not exactly the prime end of Bed Stuy, and in-fill new construction tends to be in areas with more blight than much of the rest of the neighborhood. (I said “tends to beâ€, not always, I know there are exceptions.) Mass foreclosure is not happening in the prime areas of Bed Stuy.
Aside from that, a slowdown is good for Bed Stuy, and probably most other neighborhoods. Prices shot up too fast, too high, and with too much hype, ala New York Magazine articles. As has been argued by myself and others, the best way for sustainable and continuing growth in our neighborhoods is sensible middle class pricing that can be afforded by a larger group of people, not just the rich. Million dollar plus houses surrounded by poverty makes no sense. Such properties do exist, and as prices go down in the future, to more sustainable levels, more will be available. People who are truly interested may have to adjust their expectations, in terms of getting everything they want, as is true everywhere. We may be in a recession, but we are not in post-Apocalyptic Escape from NY world. The prime parts of all neighborhoods, including Bed Stuy, will still be expensive. Those who think they are going to pick up $300K brownstones are smoking some strong stuff.
Clermont Greene had an open house over the weekend. It looked like mostly walk-ins like me. They handed us the price sheet , telling us to pretty much ignore it. “Just name a price and we’ll see what we can do.” The Clermont side will be ready Jan./Feb. The Vanderbilt side is a few months behind. The managing company is determined not to go rental. Could rent-to-own be in their future?
“blood in the water”
I had two condo developers call me over the weekend, leaving messages that they had drastic price reductions and that I should come and look at their places again. They had my number from one of those sign up sheets. I’m going to go look. But, man, I can feel the desperation and fear…
Here comes several hundred denial posts….