Bayside Home Sales Soar Nearly 50 Percent Over Asking In 2021

BAYSIDE, QUEENS — Houses in Bayside have been listed at lower prices in 2021 compared to the past few years, but neighborhood homes routinely sell well above asking price, new data shows.

The median asking price for a home in Bayside has been under $500,000 almost every month in 2021, barring a summer surge in June and July, but buyers have spent well over asking ever month — as much as 48 percent more than the listed price in Feb., StreetEasy data shows.

Most recently, in Oct., median asking prices in the area dropped to $479,000, the lowest they've been since July, but the median recorded sale price skyrocketed to $867,500 — 44 percent over asking, according to StreetEasy.

Bayside homes sold for more this Oct. than this time last year, or this time pre-pandemic — by tens-of-thousands of dollars — even though houses were priced higher during both Oct. 2020 and 2019, data shows.

As the city's housing market began to rebound from the pandemic this summer, Bayside's already competitive market became more crowded, prompting buyers to spend well over asking price — a trend that's being seen across New York, and the country.

Bayside's pandemic housing market

During the pandemic, Bayside's real estate market didn't suffer the same precipitous losses as other parts of Queens, some of which saw housing prices plummet as (primarily) young, affluent adults fled the city, taking rent with them.

Instead, many urbanites became more interested in buying homes in Bayside — and other outer borough neighborhoods — last year, since the neighborhood offers the allure of single-family homes and outdoor space within the city's limits.

As Bayside's population inched up in 2020, median home sale prices rose, too, much to the dismay of longtime residents, many of whom have lamented the area's development.

"Areas that aren't serviced by public transportation are seeing a huge revitalization," longtime Queens broker Bianca Colasuonna told The Brick Underground in May, adding that Bayside is among the neighborhoods where she's seeing "a lot of interest."

That month, the median home sale in Bayside was 40 percent over the median listing price, according to StreetEasy data.

Countrywide bidding wars

Spending well over a home's asking price isn't unique to buyers in Bayside.

In Queens at large, for instance, the median asking price for a home this past Oct. was $599,000 — a lower price than this time last year, or in 2019, according to StreetEasy.

The borough-wide median sale price, though, came in at $630,000 — 0.5 percent over asking, which is on-par with the 0.6 percent that buyers spend above asking prices nationally, according to Zillow.com data reported by the New York Times.

In that same article, which focused on the Bay Area housing market, the Times pointed out that nearly three times as many homes are selling for over the asking price in 2021 compared to the amount that sold above asking in 2018.

Bay Area brokers, the Times reported, are known for intentionally underpricing home listings in order to attract as many offers as possible, and then let potential buyers battle the price out in bidding wars.

And Queens, is no stranger to price wars, either. Real estate broker Christopher Kromer recently told CNBC that a listing for one of his single-family homes in Queens was "overwhelmed with interest."

After organizing 50 showings within the first week it sold for about 10 percent above the asking price, he said.