NEW YORK CITY—Given the increasing importance to New York City of the outer boroughs, the industry is sitting up and taking notice of the market's performance all around town.
A new report on the fourth quarter shows that Long Island City and Astoria finished the year as hotspots. Both Queens markets saw demand outstripping existing supply, according to brokerage firm Modern Spaces.
More specifically, Astoria's rental rates climbed over the third quarter to close Q4 at $2,868 on average. Long Island City's rental rates also rose slightly, with luxury apartment rates reaching $3,780 on average, walk-ups commanding $2,963 and apartments in elevator buildings climbing to $2,458.
While rental prices in both neighborhoods continued to rise, Modern Spaces' Q4 report showed that Long Island City closed sales prices dropped slightly in the fourth quarter. Here, price per square foot on all closed sales dropped to $950 per square foot in Q4 from $1,020 in the third quarter. In Astoria, the average price per square foot of closed inventory is $644 for the same quarter.
“Overall, it's been a great year for the rental and sales market in Long Island City and Astoria,” says Eric Benaim, founder and CEO of Modern Spaces. “There is tremendous demand for rental properties as well as for sale product. However, due to lack of inventory, we saw a slight decrease in closed sales pricing but we are very bullish going into 2015 as new inventory will come online this year.”
While the rental market leveled out slightly in Q3 of 2014, due to all possible inventory coming online at the same time—and creating significant competition in the marketplace—slight gains in the fourth quarter rental pricing is promising for both neighborhoods.
Development was and will continue to be strong this year, with many projects planned in both communities.
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Rayna Katz
Rayna Katz is a seasoned business journalist whose extensive experience includes coverage of the lodging sector, travel and the culinary space. She was most recently content director for a business-to-business publisher, overseeing four publications. While at Meeting News, a travel trade publication, she received a Best Reporting award for a story on meeting cancellations in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.
