Finally, a glimmer of hope in Brooklyn’s reeling real-estate market.
Although sale prices across the borough remain down compared to the prior year much like the rest of the city, Brooklyn co-ops and condos saw modest increases from the first to second quarters of 2009, a new study shows.
Median prices of condos sold improved by 2.6 percent to $475,283 while co-op sale prices jumped by 4 percent to $249,500, according to Prudential Douglas Elliman’s report released yesterday.
“While all markets are seeing fewer sales than in the previous spring, there was a larger-than-seasonal increase in sales activity since the beginning of the year, caused by the release of pent-up demand that began accumulating in the fall,” when the market fell, said Jonathan Miller, of Miller Samuel Real Estate Appraisers, which helped prepare the report.
He also attributed the increases to “historically low” mortgage rates and first-time homebuyers taking advantage of new tax credits offered by the Obama administration.
“First-time buyers have a different perspective in that they look at the economic downturn as a discount,” he said.