Brooklyn Luxury Residential Market April 2020

Activity was moribund once again in Brooklyn’s luxury residential market, as real estate continues to grapple with the unprecedented fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.

The borough saw just two luxury contracts signed last week, both for townhouses, according to the latest report from Compass. The report looks at homes in the borough asking $2 million or more based on the last publicly available asking prices.

The priciest deal was for a townhouse at 48 Sidney Place in Brooklyn Heights, which went for about $6 million. The five-bedroom property spans 3,850 square feet and was on the market for about a year. It went into contract at 10 percent below its asking price.

The other deal last week was for a townhouse at 289 Union Street in Carroll Gardens, which went for about $5.2 million. The six-bedroom property spans 3,900 square feet and went into contract at its asking price after 82 days on the market.

The average price of the contracts was about $5.6 million, and the total volume was about $11.2 million. The properties spent an average of 388 days on the market and sold at an average of 5 percent less than their asking prices. It was a bit slower than the week before, when three contracts were signed for about $19.1 million.

Whether or not brokers were allowed to continue showing homes amid the pandemic emerged as a key point of confusion within the industry, though now the state has clarified that showings for residential and commercial properties can only be done virtually.

While there has been some deal activity despite New York City’s shutdown, those in the industry say closings are only happening for properties that went into contract weeks, if not months ago.