In Cobble Hill, Townhouse Prices March Higher

Cobble Hill’s property premiums just keep going up.

Earlier this week, news broke that actors Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz sold their home at 22 Strong Place for nearly $12 million — almost double the $6.8 million they paid for it nine years ago. The deal surfaced in public records just as another Cobble Hill townhouse, asking $7 million, secured a signed contract and claimed the No. 1 spot in Compass’ weekly report on Brooklyn’s luxury deals.

Craig’s and Weisz’s deal is one of a growing number of transactions that have reset expectations in Cobble Hill, where a limited supply of townhouses and increased demand have driven prices upward – a phenomenon playing out across several neighborhoods in Brooklyn, where The Real Deal’s Jake Indursky has been tracking the growing luxury market.

The price growth in Cobble Hill hasn’t yet translated into a new record, which was set in 2015 by a $15.5 million deal for 177 Pacific Street. Other deals have approached the ceiling, including a 25-foot-wide townhouse at 128 Pacific Street, which sold in 2023 after a gut renovation for nearly $12 million — up significantly from its $4 million purchase price in 2015.

“It’s exploding in price, but it’s still a little less expensive” than nearby Brooklyn Heights, said Serhant’s Ravi Kantha. Several buyers priced out of Brooklyn Heights, where deals have surpassed $20 million, are looking to Cobble Hill. “There is still a perceived value proposition.”

But a new wave of inventory could test Cobble Hill’s existing boundaries, with several recent purchases headed for gut renovations that will likely hit the market for higher sums than the latest round of updated abodes, according to Kantha.

“There’s more money being invested there than what you see on the market now,” Kantha said. “The $15 million to $20 million-level inventory doesn’t exist in locations where people usually pay for it, so buyers are creating it.”

Also adding to that inventory are developers, who in recent years have been buying up properties across Brownstone Brooklyn and turning them into shiny new single-family homes. In Brooklyn Heights, one of those homes, developed by Brooklyn Home Company, sold for $22 million — the second most expensive deal ever in the borough.

Cobble Hill could soon see a new record set if a renovated townhouse at 205 Clinton Street, now on the market for $18.5 million, manages to close at that price. So far, there haven’t been any takers, and the asking price was lowered from the initial $22 million price tag when it was listed last year.

Still, even if the sellers knocked a few million more off the asking price, the deal would far surpass its last sale for less than $4 million in 2020.

Not so fast…

New York City’s luxury sector is ramping up, even in Long Island City.

In the neighborhood and others nearby, including Astoria and Sunnyside, condo deals between $1 million and $1.5 million rose more than 3 percent year-over-year last quarter, while sales above $1.5 million more than doubled, according to Serhant’s quarterly report. The upticks came as overall sales fell more than 2 percent in the same period.

But those eye-popping gains come with a caveat. Housing in these neighborhoods is largely made up of rental properties, leaving a relatively small pool of condo inventory (though that could change in the near future, with a recent rezoning promising to bring more apartments, some of which are likely to be condos). Without a significant depth of inventory, activity at just one or two new developments could significantly sway the numbers, particularly at the high-end.

Last quarter, price trends followed a similar pattern to sales. Price per square foot held steady or fell across most segments, but it climbed more than 7 percent for condos between $1 million and $1.5 million and nearly 5 percent for deals above $1.5 million.

Signed contracts fell across the board except at the top of the market, where inked deals more than doubled, which likely fed into the uptick in closings.

Across all price points, the median price increased by more than 8 percent to roughly $975,000. Hunters Point led the pack, with closed sales up 84 percent year-over-year and the average price per square foot rising more than 17 percent.

Unlike the rest of the city, Long Island City logged gains in condo inventory, including a 3 percent increase in new listings hitting the market in the first quarter, and overall inventory rising 6 percent.

NYC Deal of the Week

The priciest deal to land in city records this week was for a duplex at 740 Park Avenue, which sold for $38 million. The off-market sale was significantly higher than the apartment’s last trade for $20.5 million in 2019, likely due to a renovation. Both the identities of the buyer and seller were shielded by anonymous shell companies.