Outer-borough bonanza: Bronx and Staten Island home sales spike 35%

Stung by high prices in Manhattan and Brooklyn, buyers are flocking to the Bronx and Staten Island – resulting in a 35 percent spike in sales activity in those boroughs during the first quarter, according to a new report.

Overall, there were 11,827 residential sales during the first quarter, a 5 percent increase, according to REBNY’s first quarter residential sales report. In Manhattan, sales dipped 2 percent and in Brooklyn, 4 percent.

The relatively high price tags in those boroughs could be to blame.

The average sale price citywide increased 1 percent to $911,000 during the first quarter, according to REBNY. In Manhattan, the average sale price jumped 5 percent to $1.865 million. Brooklyn’s average price spiked 8 percent to $809,000.

Average sale prices in the Bronx, Staten Island and Queens were far lower, clocking in at $378,000, $441,000 and $504,000, respectively.

Overall, sales volume topped $10.8 billion during 2016’s first quarter, according to REBNY, up 7 percent from the prior-year period. In Manhattan, total sales added up to $5.69 billion, a 2.8 percent increase. Meanwhile, Brooklyn saw $2.27 billion in sales, up 2.8 percent; Queens had $1.9 billion, up 13.2 percent; the Bronx had $374 million, up 34 percent; and Staten Island had $527 million, up a whopping 41 percent.

Buyers are “attracted to more options at various price levels throughout all five boroughs,” REBNY President John Banks said in a statement.

The REBNY report, which breaks down submarkets, found that the Astoria condo market, in particular, saw a 32 percent increase in sales with 29 transactions during the first quarter. The average sale price in that submarket jumped 18 percent to $595,000.

In the Bronx, the submarket including City Island, Pelham Bay, Throggs Neck and Schuylerville, had 125 sales of one-to-three family homes, a 39 percent spike. The average price in that submarket rose 5 percent to $457,000. [REBNY] — E.B. Solomont