Brooklyn home sales fell at a record rate in Q3

Home sales in Brooklyn fell last quarter at the highest rate in 11 years, illuminating the crushing effect of the lockdown on real estate in the second quarter, when most of the contracts were signed.

Buyers purchased 1,481 properties between July and September, according to Douglas Elliman’s market report for the third quarter of 2020. That was 43 percent below the third quarter of 2019,when 2,596 properties sold.

In Brooklyn’s luxury sector, sales fell about 36 percent, from 236 deals last year to 150 this year. Within that sector, condo sales fell 41 percent to a total of 461. Sales of one- to three-family homes fell 43 percent to a total of 704.

Still, home owners stayed firm on price: The average sale price for a home was $969,377, which was just 0.8 percent below the same period last year. The median sales price, $790,000, was exactly the same as last year.

What happened in Brooklyn is not unique; sales that closed during the third quarter largely reflected contracts that were signed when the city was still on lockdown.

“What’s interesting is if you look at the city, most of the third quarters fell sharply,” said appraiser Jonathan Miller of the firm Miller Samuel.

Given contract activity has picked up since the lockdown restrictions were eased, Miller said that there could be an uptick in sales next quarter. Though, he noted, “there’s a lot of ebb and flow in front of us, let alone whenever there’s a vaccine.”

In recent weeks, the number of luxury contracts signed in Brooklyn has increased slightly over previous weeks.