Square foot rate in Brooklyn down for first time in 21 months

But prices climb in Crown Heights and Bed-Stuy, Corcoran report finds

Brooklyn sales chart in first quarter of 2014 (Credit: Corcoran Group)
Brooklyn sales chart in first quarter of 2014 (Credit: Corcoran Group)

The average price per square foot in Brooklyn dropped for the first time in nearly two years, according to a first-quarter market report from the Corcoran Group.

In the first three months of 2014, the average per-square-foot price was $635, down 5 percent from $665 year-over-year.

The figures have been up for the last seven quarters. Driving the recent decline: the growth of sales in relatively less expensive neighborhoods such as Coney Island, Sunset Park and East New York, combined with a drop in closed sales in the pricier northwestern neighborhoods due to lack of product.

“We’ve never seen a time where inventory was as short as it is today,” Frank Percesepe, senior regional vice president for Brooklyn sales at Corcoran, told The Real Deal.

The median price of a home also tumbled by 6 percent, to $450,000 from $480,000. The average sales price, however, slightly grew. The figure rose 2 percent, to $605,000 from $595,000, Corcoran data show.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

By signing up, you agree to TheRealDeal Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy.

Single- and two- to four-family townhouses in the borough continue to gain value at a swift clip. The average price of a single-family townhouse grew to $2.2 million from $1.5 million year-over-year.

“A lot of people want to own their own properties and live independently in their own building,” Percesepe said.

The market share of sales in Dumbo, Brooklyn Heights, Downtown Brooklyn and Cobble Hill was a lot smaller in the first quarter compared to the same quarter last year – to 13 percent from 24 percent. South Brooklyn, on the other hand, grew to 30 percent from 18 percent in market share.

Percesepe said he sees Crown Heights and Bedford-Stuyvesant as prime examples of hot neighborhood’s in Brooklyn.

The median price for new developments in the borough was up 15 percent, to $875,000 from $759,000 year-over-year.