Brooklyn's Homes Are Selling Fastest In These Neighborhoods

BROOKLYN, NY — New York City's real estate market might be slowing down, but homes are still going fast in some hotspots across the city — including Brooklyn's northwestern waterfront.

Homes in Fort Greene, Brooklyn Heights, Dumbo and Cobble Hill are some of the fastest-selling citywide, staying on the market for a little over two months while others can flounder for nearly four, a new study found.

The four neighborhoods — which were grouped together in the StreetEasy study — had the fastest selling homes of any neighborhoods in Brooklyn and were tied for the second-fastest area citywide. The study looked at how quickly homes were scooped up through the third quarter of 2019.

The Brooklyn spots were only beat by Southern Queens, where homes stay on the market for a median of 60 days.

Northwest Queens' 70-day median stay tied with the Brooklyn homes, which the real estate experts noted was interesting given their higher price points. Cobble Hill was rated the borough's most expensive neighborhood this year, a spot held by Dumbo not too long ago.

"While these areas are pricey compared to other parts of their boroughs, value-hungry buyers are still finding them attractive," the researchers wrote.

The neighborhoods where homes were scooped up quickly bucked a citywide trend that has the sales market in a slowdown, researchers said.

Relatively high prices and small price cuts across New York City made it so that homes stayed on the market for a median of 83 days, five days longer than last year, and the longest average since 2012, the report found.

The slowest spots were all in Manhattan, which researchers noted is the city's most expensive borough. In Midtown, sellers are waiting about 103 days to sell their homes, with the Upper East Side and Upper Manhattan not far behind with 99 and 97-day stays.

"Buyers considering any of these areas have the ability to be picky and patient in order to find the perfect home," the report said. "There’s lots of inventory, and it stays on the market for a significant chunk of time, giving buyers plenty of opportunity to negotiate."