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]