Fort Greene Rents Jumped By $630 In The Last Year: Study

FORT GREENE-CLINTON HILL, BROOKLYN — Apartments in Fort Greene and Clinton Hill are $630 more expensive this year compared to last, surpassing the average cost of rent in Brooklyn, a study found.

In January, the average rent in both neighborhoods was $3,544 — over $150 more than the average rental price in Brooklyn, according to the new market report by Corcoran, a real estate firm. Last year, by contrast, an apartment in Fort Greene or Clinton Hill was below the average cost of rent in the borough, the study found.

This mirrors a trend across Brooklyn, where rents increased as the glut of apartments that entered the market during the pandemic dried up (to almost pre-pandemic levels), the study found.

In Fort Green and Clinton Hill the above-average cost of rent also marks a $630 (or 22 percent) year-over-year increase in the per-month cost of rent overall, which was only $2,914 this time last year, according to Corcoran.

Rising rents means a double-digit drop in the number of leases being signed across most of Brooklyn, especially as neighbors wait longer-on-average to sign rental agreements, according to Corcoran, which noted that listings in the borough spent an average of 92 days on the market — one of the longest days-on-market average seen in the past three years.

In Fort Greene and Clinton Hill, leasing activity dropped 30 percent this January compared to last, with 86 leases signed instead of 122.

Gowanus, also in northwest Brooklyn, is one of the only neighborhood that saw an increase in leases signed year-over-year, which mirrors the decrease in rent in the neighborhood — the average apartment costs nearly $500 less this January as compared to last, according to Corcoran.

Still, remarkably, rents across Brooklyn have not fully recovered from their pandemic slump, with the borough's median rent remaining 6 percent below its pre-pandemic cost, the study found.

The cost of purchasing a home in Brooklyn, however, is on the rise, with median home prices hitting over $1 million on average, according to another report.

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