After an erratic several months in Brooklyn and Queens, due largely to pent up demand and the first-time homebuyer tax credit, the residential market in the two boroughs may be stabilizing, according to a Prudential Douglas Elliman report covering both boroughs released today.

The median residential sales prices climbed in the fourth quarter compared to the same three months in 2009, while the number of sales dropped in both boroughs.

In Brooklyn, the figure rose 6.2 percent to $475,000, while sales dropped 29.9 percent to 1,468 from 2,093. In Queens, meanwhile, the price increased 5.4 percent to $369,000, as home sales plummeted 41.7 percent. Last quarter saw 2,483 sales in Queens, compared to 4,260 during fourth-quarter 2009. [more]

Despite a projected 1,160 apartment units set to hit the Brooklyn market in 2010, the vacancy rate in the borough will stay relatively the same, according to the first-quarter market report from Marcus &amp; Millichap. Apartment vacancy is set to hit 2.6 percent in 2010, according to the report, up just 0.2 percent from the current vacancy rate, despite the abundance of inventory that will enter the market. This prediction comes on the heels of improvement, price-wise, among apartments over the last year. The median price increased 8 percent to $117,360 year-over-year. <i>TRD</i> [more]

Downtown Brooklyn office real estate is suffering, according to Crain’s, with just three deals inked last year for 30,000 square feet of space or more. With lowered Manhattan rents putting up a fight and tenants looking to streamline their space, the Downtown Brooklyn market is hurting — and it’s tough to tell when it might rebound, according to Chris Havens, CEO of Creative Real Estate Group in Brooklyn. “The market is a mixed picture, with a vacancy rate that is lower than almost any major office market in America, but it’s a very slow-moving market,” Havens said.

The Bloomberg Administration and environmental officials have named the Jamaica Bay as their next cleanup target area. Meanwhile, Chase, the consumer and commercial banking arm of JPMorgan Chase, announced today the opening of two new centers in the tri-state area to help distressed homeowners avoid foreclosure. Click here for more. [more]

A portion of the map

City Council member Brad Lander has launched an interactive map tracking stalled construction sites in his district, which comprises portions of southwestern Brooklyn, including Carroll Gardens, Park Slope, Gowanus and Windsor Terrace, according to Brownstoner. The map includes demarcations for vacant development sites, existing building conversions with stop-work orders, stalled construction sites and those vacant buildings that are in so-called “derelict condition.” The survey found that a total of 39 sites had applied for demolition or construction permits, before halting progress for an extended period of time. The Real Deal’s 2010 Data Book, now available for purchase, also includes a list of stalled construction sites in New York City. TRD

Jason Pennington of Ripco Real Estate

From the February issue: Mayor Bloomberg may have declared war on high-calorie, sodium-filled diets, but New York City’s landlords seem to think fast-food joints are good for their health — their fiscal health, that is. Fast-food restaurants are under construction all over the city, gearing up to serve greasy burgers, fried chicken and burritos, as well as accompanying sugary sodas, which the Bloomberg administration portrayed as globs of fat in a glass in a recent public awareness campaign. In this tough retail climate, food and beverage leases in the city are rising faster than any other category. While they generally make up the largest portion of leases on The Real Deal‘s monthly Deal Sheet, last month the category saw 19 deals for over 70,000 square feet of retail space. That’s more than double the second most active category: fashion. And the greasy diet that landlords have signed up for is, in many cases, long-term, with 10- and 15-year leases.  [more]

Click chart for larger version. (Source: Prudential Douglas Elliman)

The residential sales markets in Queens and Brooklyn saw an increase in activity toward the end of 2009, with Queens seeing a dramatic 50 percent uptick over the third quarter and year-over-year, according to fourth-quarter market reports from Prudential Douglas Elliman released today.

Meanwhile, prices in both boroughs continued a steady decline.

Several market factors conspired to turn the traditionally slow season into a more active one, according to appraiser Jonathan Miller, head of Miller Samuel and preparer of the report: the loosening of credit, the extension of the first-time homebuyer tax credit and the steady decline in prices.

“The takeaway [from the reports] is that we saw a continued uptick in sales activity… in the fourth quarter — more brisk than the third quarter,” Miller said.

In Queens, the fourth quarter of 2009 saw 4,260 home sales, up 52.7 percent from a quarter earlier and 55.6 percent from the same three months in 2008. The number of sales in Brooklyn during the fourth-quarter 2009 reached 2,093, up a more modest 13.3 percent from the previous quarter and 13.4 percent over the same quarter a year earlier, the Elliman report shows. [more]

In its 2009 annual market report, Brooklyn-based real estate appraisal company HMS Associates, found that the number of home sales and prices slipped in 2009 (click here to see full report). Residential sales dropped about 26 percent in 2009 from a year earlier while prices sunk approximately 9 percent, the report says. There were 2,906 sales in 2009 with an average price of $607,948 compared to 3,915 deals in 2008 with an average price of $667,773. “Although [we] experienced a slight increase in both average sales prices and overall volume in the third quarter of 2009, the numbers have reversed direction in the fourth quarter. That means that we will have a bumpy road ahead on the way to a full market recovery,” said Sam Heskel, executive vice president at HMS. The company uses city records to analyze the sale of one- through four-family homes, condos and co-ops in 15 Brooklyn neighborhoods. TRD [more]

From left: Aleksandra Scepanovic and Sandra Dowling

At a time when most rental brokers in Brooklyn were girding their loins and praying for a springtime uptick in activity, one firm says it ended 2009 with a big demand for rental units, albeit with lower than average rents. Ideal Properties, a two-year old Brooklyn-based residential sales and rental firm, described its rental performance as “stronger than strong” during the last two months of 2009, in a year-end report (see full report after the jump). Meanwhile, the borough’s rental developments have been on rocky ground, with high-profile buildings like the Brooklyner, a 51-story behemoth that boasts the title of tallest building in Brooklyn, slashing prices. At last count, the Brooklyner had slashed its rates by almost 29 percent. But Ideal, which covers approximately 14 different Brooklyn neighborhoods in the western portion of the borough, including Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens and Park Slope, beat its typical December monthly performance by 20 percent, according to Aleksandra Scepanovic, managing director at the firm. According to the report, 15.3 percent of the rental transactions for
the year occurred in the month of December alone. Scepanovic would not
indicate Ideal’s total number of rental deals for 2009, but put
December’s 15.3 percent figure at about six to 12 deals per agent. The
report is based on 7,100 rental listings in a proprietary database. The spike in activity was due to improved stability in the region, she said, a changing of the tides from 2008 and rent reductions. [more]

From left: The Real Deal’s top stories include best and worst deals, the profile of one-time real estate big wig Michael Shvo, and news on the Setai

The most popular stories on The Real Deal Web site from 2009, based on the number of page views, run the gamut from a collection of the best and worst deals since the crunch, to a profile of the boom-time marketing wunderkind Michael Shvo, to the breaking news that the Setai joined the number of city projects releasing buyers from their contracts.

Here are the top 10 stories of the year:

1. Finding a bottom in Brooklyn
2. The best and worst deals
3. Where in the world did Shvo go?
4. Setai condo buyers granted right to cancel contracts, get deposits back
5. New York could see a double dip in residential market
6. ‘Vornado Tornado’ gets ready to land
7. Where are buyers backing out?
8. Fortress buys Sheffield57 at auction for $20M
9.The tallest green condo shoots
10. SL Green battles Levy, Chetrit in Chelsea [more]