Dollar volume of Queens office sales went up by more than 15,000%. That’s not a typo.

Investment sales in Queens increased by every metric during the first half of 2018, but the starkest increase by far was for dollar volume in the office market.

Office dollar volume shot up more than 15,000 percent to about $473 million in the first half of 2018 from a paltry $3 million during the second half of last year, according to a new report from Ariel Property Advisors.  This was largely due to Atlas Capital Group buying out their equity partner Square Mile Capital for $400 million when recapitalizing 47-07 30th Place, also known as “The Factory.”  Office dollar volume increased by 211 percent compared to the first half of 2017.

Overall, Queens saw 320 deals across 404 properties totaling about $2.35 billion during the first six months of 2018. This was an increase of 45 percent by dollar volume and 13 percent by both deal and property volume compared to the second half of 2017. Compared to the first half, dollar volume rose by 36 percent, transaction volume increased by 12 percent and property volume inched up by 2 percent.

Development sales were the most popular type of asset class by dollar and property volume, with about $876 million worth of deals across 161 buildings. Dollar, transaction and property volume saw 10 percent, 25 percent and 35 percent increases, respectively.

Multifamily sales were the most popular by transaction volume with 143 deals. That asset class saw dollar volume shoot up by 21 percent, transaction volume by 12 percent and property volume by 7 percent.

Northwestern Queens, which includes Long Island City and Astoria, was the most active region by wide margins in every category with 193 deals across 229 properties worth about $1.7 billion. This comprised more than 73 percent of dollar volume and 60 percent of transaction volume for the entire borough.

In addition to the Factory, other notable deals during the first half of the year included Treetop Development’s $127.5 million sale of its multifamily portfolio to A&E Real Estate Holdings and Criterion Group’s $83.3 million sale of its 711-unit residential development site at 30-77 Vernon Boulevard to Cape Advisors.

Ariel executive vice president Michael Tortorici said Queens is expected to see a strong second half of the year as well, citing the 7 train as an important factor.

“We expect this activity to not only maintain but rather increase,” he said, “as Hudson Yards continues to attract new commuters and the L-train shutdown motivates tenants to seek new housing along the 7 train.”