Sales of Brooklyn’s prized brownstones, mansions and standalone homes appear to be falling off — even as prices are ticking up.
Home sales for standalone residential buildings — mostly single-family homes — in the borough fell about 12 percent in the second quarter from the quarter before.
The Real Deal analyzed New York City data of home sales for single-, two- and three-family properties for each Brooklyn neighborhood from the second quarter of 2020 through the second quarter of this year. TRD did not include co-ops or condominium deals in the analysis.
The Big Apple’s most populous borough recorded just over $1.6 billion worth of sales of these properties across 1,089 deals — more than 200 fewer deals than the quarter before. The total sales volume figure, while down quarter over quarter, was up a bit from the same time last year, by 0.5 percent.
Since the onset of the pandemic in early 2020, sales of these buildings peaked in the third quarter of 2022 with $2.6 billion in sales across nearly 1,900 transactions. That quarter marked a turning point, where the sales volume was overall lower after. Since then, sales have relatively leveled off.
Brooklyn townhouse sales have been dominating the city’s luxury market, with demand for the 20-foot-wide homes spurring an 88 percent annual increase in sales in the second half of 2024.
Subscribe to TRD Data to unlock this content
While total sales volume tapered off from quarter to quarter, the median price point of these properties remained relatively flat during this time, at about $1.37 million — though the median sales figure was ever so slightly higher in the second quarter, according to TRD’s analysis. This was the highest median price per quarter since early 2020.
The average borough-wide price per square foot clocked in at $760, which was $14 more than the quarter before.
Subscribe to TRD Data to unlock this content
The Brooklyn neighborhood that experienced the greatest total sales volume in the second quarter was Stuyvesant Heights, a historic neighborhood featuring quintessential Brooklyn brownstones and tree-lined streets. Sales in that area came in at $88.9 million — about 23 percent higher than the first quarter’s total — across 53 deals.
Meanwhile, Cobble Hill’s sales volume surged by 328 percent quarter over quarter to about $28 million, the greatest increase among the borough’s neighborhoods. Volume in Coney Island fell the most, by about 88 percent.
In the second quarter, Brooklyn Heights’ standalone homes notched an average price per square foot of about $2,100, the highest among this property type in Brooklyn. This figure is 23 percent higher than the same time last year. Brighton Beach’s average price per square foot rose the most quarter over quarter by just under 56 percent.
Subscribe to TRD Data to unlock this content