Brooklyn Investment Sales Set New Record

Shimon Shkury’s Ariel Property Advisors reports Brooklyn’s investment sales market has never been better.

NEW YORK CITY—The investment sales market in Brooklyn surged to a new record in 2015 with total sales volume reaching nearly $9.7 billion, a 52% increase from 2014′s year-end totals. Fueled by some sizable multifamily and development site trades, the real estate investment sales market in Kings County posted 1,409 transactions involving 1,980 properties, according to Ariel Property Advisors ‘ newly released year-end 2015 report on the Brooklyn sales market. “Brooklyn’s multifamily market has captivated the attention of institutional investors and developers and the borough’s high sales volume and price appreciation is a direct result of this interest,” says Mark Spinelli , VP at Ariel Property Advisors. “The combination of strong fundamentals and low interest rates have continued to push prices higher with the average price-per-foot at $328 in 2015, up from $292 in 2014 and the average price-per-unit at $284,000 in 2015, up from $268,000 in 2014.” The Ariel report notes that the multifamily sector in Brooklyn recorded its best year ever in 2015 as dollar volume increased 43% from 2014 levels, reaching the $4.8-billion plateau. The dollar volume spike was due to higher value transactions since the volume of transactions and properties that changed hands were near levels posted a year earlier. Last month, Ariel Property Advisors reported that paced by the $5.45-billion sale of Stuyvesant Town & Peter Cooper Village, multifamily sales in New York City reached a record-settling $19 billion in 2015. The headline-grabbing deal in 2015 in Brooklyn was TIAA-CREF ‘s $169-million purchase of 250 N. 10th St., a 234-unit residential building in Williamsburg, from a partnership between real estate investment firm LCOR and the California State Teachers Retirement System . A number of large-scale development site transactions drove the dollar volume for Brooklyn in that sector to $3.75 billion in 2015, a 60% increase year-over year. “About 70% of the development transactions in 2015 took place in Northern Brooklyn, most of which occurred in Downtown, Bedford Stuyvesant and Williamsburg,” says Jonathan Berman , VP at Ariel Property Advisors. “Development sites continue to be in high demand with limited supply as condominium prices surpass over $1,000 per-square-foot in Crown Heights, while others in Bushwick and East Williamsburg are seeing sales range at $900-$1,000 per square foot.” The 2015 dollar volume for Brooklyn commercial, retail and office properties was nearly double from 2014 levels, rising to approximately $1.024 billion in gross consideration, the brokerage firm reports.