We recently published our report on the Brooklyn sales market for 4Q 2012.   This is part of an evolving market report series I’ve been writing for Douglas Elliman since 1994.

Key Points

– Record low mortgage rates fueling demand but credit remains tight holding demand in check.
– Lowest inventory total in four years.
– Price indicators show sharp year over year gains.
– Number of sales declined from year ago levels restrained by limited inventory.
– Market share of new development at lowest level since credit crunch began as old pipeline of product has been nearly exhausted.

Here’s an excerpt from the report:

…The Brooklyn housing market saw a final
quarter of 2012 characterized by unusually
low inventory, which in turn limited the volume
of both re-sale and new development activity
despite the demand generated by record low
mortgage rates. As a result, the price indicators
showed a year-over-year jump across most
market segments.

There were 4,685 listings at the end of the
fourth quarter, the metric’s lowest total since we
began tracking it in mid-2008. Listing inventory
was 20.7% below prior year levels, resulting
in a 9.7-month absorption rate, faster than the
11.4-month rate in the same period last year.
Despite record low mortgage rates and a slowly
improving economy, the number of sales fell
7.3% to 1,445 over the same period, as limited
inventory and tight mortgage lending conditions
continued to restrain demand…

You can build your own custom data tables on the market – now updated with 4Q 12 data. Charts with 4Q12 data appended will be online shortly.

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The Elliman Report: 4Q 2012 Brooklyn Sales [Miller Samuel] The Elliman Report: 4Q 2012 Brooklyn Sales [Douglas Elliman] Aggregated Custom Market Data Tables [Miller Samuel]