In an unusual twist, home prices in the outer boroughs held up better than those in Manhattan in an overall dreadful fourth quarter, according to the latest figures from the Real Estate Board of New York cited by the Wall Street Journal.
While the median price in Manhattan tumbled 8.5 from the prior year quarter to $750,000, prices actually inched up by 2.9 percent in the Bronx to $350,00 and 1.4 percent in Brooklyn to $473,000. And while the median prices in Queens and Staten Island fell 4.8 percent and 5.2 percent, respectively, that’s still less than the declines in Manhattan. Citywide, the price drop measured 2.3 percent.
In terms of sales volume, the Bronx and Brooklyn also outperformed Manhattan year-over-year, as volume decreased 5.9 percent and 9.4 percent in those boroughs while dropping 9.5 percent in Manhattan. Queens sales stumbled 12.6 percent and Staten Island sales volume fell plummeted 32.6 percent.
One more measure where Manhattan lagged behind boroughs was in the total spending on homes, which decreased 20 percent on the island compared 9.6 percent in Brooklyn and 12.9 percent in Queens. The report estimated citywide sales at $5.41 billion in the fourth quarter.
REBNY’s report is different from previous fourth-quarter reports, as they count sales by when they were filed with the city, not when they closed.
The Journal attributed the outerborough’s relatively strong performance to the fact that Manhattan had bounced back earlier in the year, while the other markets never recovered from the recession so there was less room for them to fall. [WSJ]
