Outer borough home sales boost city real estate: Report

UPDATED 10/16/13 at 1:31 pm: The outer boroughs are booming - in home sales.

A report released Tuesday by the Real Estate Board of New York showed a six-year high in home sales throughout the city, fueled by up-and-coming neighborhoods in Queens and Brooklyn.

Michael Slattery, REBNY's senior vice president, said prospective homeowners who don't want to break the bank are starting to venture to places that have a large number of properties at lower prices.

"People are starting to find them. They look and get deterred in certain neighborhoods and they find something just as good or better in the next neighborhood," he said.

REBNY reported $11 billion in value of all home sales, or total consideration, during the third quarter of 2013, a 31.6% jump compared to the same time period last year.

Queens saw a 41.95% increase in considerations in the third quarter of 2013 compared to the same period in 2012, the highest of all the boroughs, followed by Brooklyn with 31.25% increase.

The neighborhoods with the most sales activity in the outer boroughs between 2012 and this year included Bedford Stuyvesant, Park Slope, Flushing and Jackson Heights.

Slattery said those communities are becoming hot commodity because of their slightly lower asking price compared to Manhattan pads. Slattery also cited historically low interest rates and greater availability.

"Bed Stuy had a high number of quality housing stock," he said. "There are a lot of older homeowners who are now moving out and selling and it's perfect for the younger people who are looking on buying."

That crowd helped to bring up the prices in those homes. The average New York City home price for the third quarter was $806,000, a 3% jump from the same period last year.

Queens and Brooklyn led the city with the rise in prices. In some instances the average sales prices for a home, condo or co-op went more than 100%.

Massey Knakal Realty Services, released their own real estate stats yesterday at a news conference and also found that the outer boroughs are the trend setters for new sales.

Brooklyn and Queens saw a 64% jump in sales over the year, accoding to the stats, and the real estate group said investors are very focused on increasing their presence in the outer boroughs.

Slattery said this new shift in focus is beneficial for the city as a whole. In the past, the focus was on Manhattan's real estate strengths but now the all the neighborhoods are contributing to keeping the city's real estate market strong.

"The outer boroughs provide people with a more economical viable homes and it's become valuable for New York," Slattery said.