Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Closings of Note: Trends Continue





In our last look at the Brooklyn condo market, we told you how price per square foot comparisons tend to tap out when you're dealing with rare sizes.  That doesn't always hold true, however.  A penthouse apartment at 1 Hanson Place, #26A closes for $3.5M last month, or over $1,000/sqft.  That's right, y'all, not a 25' wide house in Brooklyn Heights.  That's a 3,200/sqft condo in Brooklyn for $3.5M.  Remember the good ol' days (2011) when this went for a mere $2.5M at auction?  Guess where the buyer's from?  If you said "lower Manhattan", you've been paying attention.  Even if someone GAVE you this apartment for free, the $4,000+/month in maintenance and taxes would be no picnic.  And you wonder why we're still bullish on townhomes with yards and no maintenance fees for $250-$750/sqft within a few miles of here.






Don't forget, even 1BR apartments go for over $1,000/sqft too.  110 Livingston Street, #5L sells for $809K last month, just above its asking price.  The buyer?  You guessed it!  Another Manhattan transplant, this time from Chelsea, decides to call Brooklyn home.






But Manhattan isn't the only place where Brooklyn buyers are coming from.  Buyers from Cobble Hill decided to take down this flip in what many would dub "deep Bed-Stuy".  900 Lafayette Avenue sold for $950K.  A "meh" 3-story brownstone for almost a million?  That's Brooklyn for ya.





A buyer from Cobble Hill also took down a condo in the Forte for almost $1,000/sqft.  230 Ashland Place, #24A becomes one of many condos in this price range to move in the past few months.  Every owner we know in this building is jumping for joy at the leap from their post-crash purchase prices to today's 'Manhattan-esque' prices.





And what would a week in Brooklyn closings be without a Park Slope townhouse pushing $3M?  692 10th Street closes this month for $2.85M, just a smidge below its asking price.






Whether you call it Prospect Park South or Ditmas, 147 Rugby Road is frikkin' stunning.  Sit back and relax while Corcoran moves this house asking $1.95M for a cool $2.2M last month.





Rookies will inform you, "If you wanna turn a 6-Family into a townhouse, you've gotta change the C of O."  Yeah, no kidding.  How else are you gonna get a 22' x 60' townhouse in Boerum Hill for under $500/sqft?  109 Wyckoff Street closes this month for $2.2M.





You know the Brooklyn bets are bullish when Sugar Hill is buying in Crown Heights, east of Utica, for over $6M.  1193-1205 Eastern Parkway closes this month for $6.6M.  A lot of money to spend in this location and with a ton of rent regulation, but certainly a ton of units and a cash cow over time.







Come on down to South Slope where 12' wide vinyl siding between 4th and 5th Avenues "in need of some TLC" goes for $1.155M last month.  That's 231 13th Street for ya.  Oh, and the buyers?  From the West Village.





Everyone's all a buzz about 16 St. Charles Place in Crown Heights asking $1.299M.  Well, the flippers are local gobblers who just bought it last month for $860K.  Keep in mind, they bought it for cash, they took all the risk, and they sourced the deal themselves.  Unless you can and will do that yourself, you'll be stuck looking at the retail prices.  It's worth noting that we're just a year removed from when houses like these (3 doors down) were asking $850K on the under-marketed open market, which is now the off-market all-cash flipper acquisition price.  When the flippers are now buying for the same price that end-users were paying last year, that's saying something about the leg up this market's made in 12-18 months.






Even if it's a flip and looks like it belongs in Queens, the new construction with parking at 716 Dean Street made a nice condo alternative this month for $1.18M for buyers nearby in Prospect Heights.





Also in Prospect Heights, 584 Vanderbilt Avenue closes for $2M.  This 4-Family wasn't necessarily end-user material, but the value is certainly there.  The buyer's from Brooklyn Heights, any surprise?





This big boy at 646 President Street sells for $3.25M this month, which is a great price for a 12-Family in a nice location with a handful of free-market units.  That's only 13 times its 2010 rent roll.  Can you say "upside"?


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