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Brooklyn and Queens Home Prices Are Higher Than Ever Before


Manhattan home sales broke records in the second quarter of 2016, but if you thought that buyers in Brooklyn and Queens might catch a break, we’ve got some bad news. According to the latest batch of market reports, prices in those boroughs just keep trending upwards.

Douglas Elliman’s report shows that the average sale prices in both boroughs have risen—only 2.2 percent since the beginning of the year in Brooklyn, but in Queens, the price has jumped a whopping 10 percent, to $526,943, since Q1 of 2016. If you look at median prices, it’s even bigger—a difference of 16 percent. Yikes.

So what’s behind the spike? According to Jonathan Miller, who prepares the Elliman reports, "Brooklyn’s boom is spilling over into Queens." As prices in Kings County rise—the average sale price there is now a whopping $816,827—and inventory falls, more buyers looked to Queens for homes. But that’s leading to a similar effect in that borough, which is now pushing prices there ever-higher.

While the nitty-gritty numbers are slightly different in the market reports prepared by Corcoran and Halstead, the story is essentially the same: Prices in Brooklyn are growing at an alarming rate, with increases across all metrics measured—average rent, median rent, price per square foot, etc. "This is also one of the key reasons we are seeing a sales boom across the suburban markets," says Miller.

So the news is not the best for those looking to buy in New York—the perfect storm of rising demand and low supply is bound to keep pushing prices up, up, and up, even in areas once thought of as "affordable." (Maybe it’s time to start looking on Staten Island?)

  • 2016 Queens Sales [Elliman]

  • 2016 Brooklyn Sales [Elliman]

  • The Corcoran Report: 2016 Brooklyn Q2 [Corcoran]

  • Manhattan's Price Per Square Foot Has Never Been Higher [Curbed]

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