Scorecard: Manhattan investment sales down, but Brooklyn holding steady

From the June issue: Investment sales are down in Manhattan but holding steady in Brooklyn, compared with the same period last year, an analysis of CoStar Group data showed. But few expected Manhattan to match its record start in 2015.

As a result, the drop off from $21 billion at the start of 2015 to $11 billion at the start of this year, in sales greater than $2 million, came as little surprise.
Even while sales volume is down, there are still a large number of properties up for grabs.

“There is probably in total about $6 billion to $8 billion worth of assets on the market now” in Manhattan, said SL Green Realty’s CEO, Matthew DiLiberto, on a first-quarter earnings call. Some insiders said the pricing expectations of sellers are too high and are slowing sales activity.

In Brooklyn, several large first-quarter transactions kept sales at $3.2 billion, equal to the amount last year.

Forest City Realty Trust’s Barclays Center stake sale to Russian investment fund ONEXIM Group for $453.7 million and its $158 million sale of the development site at 625 Fulton Street to the Rabsky Group kept the sales volume strong in the borough. Forest City’s David LaRue predicted more transactions this year, including an equity stake in the firm’s Pacific Park project. Such a deal would be “taking advantage of demand for residential buildings” in Brooklyn, LaRue said in a May earnings call.