Brooklyn Housing Market Making a Comeback, Report Says

If you own a home in Prospect Heights, you can breathe a sigh of relief.

In a quarterly survey of residential sales in Brooklyn, the Elliman Report noted the housing market has continued to show "broad stability in price and sales activity." 

The third quarter saw the fastest absorption rate, or the rate available homes are sold in a real estate market during a certain time period, in four years, the report noted. The amount of time it took to sell a property averaged 117 days, one month faster than in the same period last year, and mixed housing price indicators reflected the "general stability of the market," the report said. 

Peggy Aguayo of Brooklyn-based Aguayo Realty Group agreed with the report's findings, saying she has seen the trends noted in the report in action. 
"I've been in this real estate business for 29 years, I've seen every conceivable conception of every trend imaginable, and this is a remarkably fast market," she said. 

People are flocking to the borough, especially "Brownstone Brooklyn" and Downtown Brooklyn, and the market is reflecting that, she said.

"People in our area have jobs, they're upper-middle class, they're in the kinds of fields where they're not let off and interest rates are low," Aguayo said. "Brooklyn has become the center of the universe." 

The report noted that sales slipped this quarter, which is partially attributable to falling inventory. Aguayo agreed, noting that people have a tendency to stay put once they buy property in Brooklyn, accounting for the lack of selection for prospective buyers. 

"People don't want to move, they like it here," she said. She noted that in recent years, the market had not been doing well in new construction, so building saw a decline. 

But that is about to change. "We're going to be coming out with a lot of new developments and a lot of new things by early Spring," Aguayo said. 

The report showed the number of condo sales dropped below prior year levels, while the number of co-op sales went up from the same period last year. Sales of one- to three-family homes were the highest they had been in more than four years. 

"I really think it's going to continue to be a tight, profitable market, if people will sell," she said.