Here’s where Brooklyn home buyers get bang for the buck

February 17, 2022 Editorial Staff

Row houses in Cobble Hill, one of the neighborhoods were

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From Brooklyneagle.com

Neighborhoods far from downtown offer more value

Home-shopping season is just around the corner, and Street Easy, a leading New York real estate marketplace, says it is going to be a busy year for buyers and sellers. Since the pandemic and the rise of remote work, space has become a prime component of the decision-making process for buyers.

To help New Yorkers find the most space for their money, StreetEasy’s January 2022 Market Report reveals where in NYC the asking price per square foot (PPSF) is falling, and where it is rising. And according to Street Easy, Brooklyn is still “red hot.”

The median asking price per square foot in Brooklyn in January was $666 — down 3.8 percent since last year. This is a promising shift for those looking to Brooklyn for more space for their money.

Overall in the borough, the median asking price for a home stayed flat since last year at $899,900, but signaling the drop in price per square foot were the types of homes coming onto the market. According to StreetEasy economist Nancy Wu, larger homes coming onto the market for lower prices contributed to the price per square foot dropping while the overall median stayed the same.

There were 658 contracts signed for homes in Brooklyn in January — 5.6 percent more than last year, and many buyers are opting for Brooklyn homes as they are priced out of Manhattan and looking for more space.

The top five neighborhoods where Brooklyn buyers can get the most space for their money were, in order,
Brownsville, Canarsie, East New York, Flatbush and Bergen Beach.

The top five neighborhoods where Brooklyn buyers can get the least space for their money, on the other hand, are, in order, Cobble Hill, DUMBO, Brooklyn Heights, Downtown Brooklyn and Boerum Hill — neighborhoods that have been fashionable for years now.

The median asking price in Brooklyn remained unchanged compared to last year, at $899,900. January was the second month there has been a drop in the number of contracts signed in Brooklyn with 658 contracts signed in January, but that was still 5.6 percent more than what was seen last January. In May 2021, Brooklyn saw a record high 1,030 contracts signed.

Brooklyn inventory fell 16.1 percent compared to last year, with 4,341 available homes for sale on the market.
This was the lowest it’s been since May 2020, and down significantly from the record high 6,094 homes that were
on the Brooklyn market in October 2020. Brooklyn aside, of the boroughs analyzed, Queens had the lowest median asking price per square foot of $540. In other words, for $950,000, which was the median asking price for a New York City home in January, a home buyer in Queens could get a median of 1,759 square feet of space.

“There is a real separation between what is happening in Manhattan and the rest of New York City right now. The price for a single square foot of space in Manhattan is more than double Brooklyn and Queens. For anyone prioritizing more space for less, looking outside of Manhattan is almost a no-brainer,” said economist Wu.