30 JUNE 4, 2020 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
REAL ESTATE
New York City real estate market gets pummeled by pandemic
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
RPOZARYCKI@QNS.COM
@ROBBPOZ
Amid the economic turmoil that
the COVID-19 pandemic has
wrought on New York City, the
real estate market continues to take a
beating.
Though there were some signs of
stability, PropertyShark reported
Tuesday, real estate sales in the five
boroughs are down 53 percent in
May year-over-year. That followed
up a 61 percent plunge in year-overyear
real estate sales in April.
Even so, there didn’t appear that
many homes up for sale across
the city. In a report released early
Wednesday morning, StreetEasy
found that just 717 homes across New
York City came on the real estate
market — an 86 percent decrease
from the 5,095 listings added in
April 2019.
“Most New Yorkers who don’t absolutely
need to buy or sell right now
simply aren’t doing so,” said Street-
Easy Economist Nancy Wu. “The
massive drop in inventory shows us
that the majority of would-be sellers
can wait, and are opting to do so to
avoid any pressure to make price
cuts.”
Driven sellers, however, weren’t
afraid to lower their prices in April.
The Manhattan price index that
StreetEasy monitors fell 2.7 percent,
to $1,075,336. Brooklyn’s price index
was down 1.8 percent to $689,989,
while the price index for Queens
remained relatively flat at $510,345.
Those homeowners determined
to make a sale amid the pandemic at
least didn’t risk their broker’s health
in doing so, resorting to video tours
to entice potential buyers. In April,
according to StreetEasy, there was a
132 percent increase in listings that
featured a walkthrough video or a
3-D home tour from the previous
month.
The PropertyShark report offered
a few bright spots. The first half of
May saw “noticeably stronger sales
trends” than in April, with 737 deals
registered. It appeared to be a sign of
“a gradual return for transactional
activity.”
The median sales price in May
also stabilized at $700,000, which
marked a 2 percent gain over the
May 2019 median price. Even though
pricing trends have been “firmly
positive throughout the crisis,”
PropertyShark’s report noted that
the 2 percent May gain represented
“the smallest year-over-year price
growth” in 2020.
But by the third week of May, PropertyShark
stated, it seemed the real
estate market began to slow again, as
just 324 sales were registered that
week — the slowest seven-day period
since mid-April.
Yet even as the sales market seemingly
dries up, and the economy in
overall turmoil, StreetEasy found
that rents appeared to increase
across the city during April.
StreetEasy’s Manhattan Rent
Index rose 2.5 percent year-overyear,
to $3,308 in April 2020. The
Brooklyn Rent Index rose 4.8 percent
to $2,755, while the Queens Rent
Index went up 3.2 percent to $2,209.
The indices track monthly changes
in rent for all housing types in the
three boroughs.
The report cautioned, however,
that upheaval amid the pandemic
may have caused actual rent price
growth to slow.
Some might see higher rents
during the pandemic as a tragic
irony given the ongoing push to
forgive or cancel rents altogether
for struggling New Yorkers during
the pandemic.
At the start of the crisis, Governor
Andrew Cuomo ordered a moratorium
on evictions and foreclosures to
keep residents in their homes. Critics
charge that’s not enough to spare
low-income and/or unemployed New
York residents from hardship and
their housing costs.
Ridgewood Times Sales Guide
RIDGEWOOD GLENDALE MASPETH MIDDLE VILLAGE
Norman Street
Listings selected at random. Courtesy MLS
Under $600,000
90-60 Union Turnpike Unit #15B
$320,000
Single family, Co-Op
1 bedroom, 1 full bathroom
Derek Greene, Greene Realty
Group
$600,000-$1,000,000
16-70 Norman St. #3F
$709,000
Single family, condo
2 bedrooms, 1 full bathroom
Talaat Elkaray, Keller Williams
Landmark II
Over $1,000,000
681 Woodward Ave.
$2,700,000
Multi-family
9 bedrooms, 7 full bathrooms
Marek Sobolewski, Trademarko
Realty Inc
74th Avenue 71st Street 79th Place
Under $600,000
78-37 64th St.
$525,000
Single family
3 bedrooms, 1 full and 1 half
bathrooms
Ioana Karanikolas, Winzone Realty
Inc
$600,000-$1,000,000
89-32 74th Ave.
$649,000
Single family, condo, townhouse
3 bedrooms, 1 full and 1 half
bathrooms
Dinko Grancaric, Benjamin Realty
Since 1980
Over $1,000,000
70-01 65th Place
$1,895,000
Multi-family
17 bedrooms, 6 full bathrooms
Tscherne Realty Inc
Under $600,000
52-24 65th Place #2P
$325,000
Single family, co-op
2 bedrooms, 1 full bathroom
Jordan Donner, Landmark International
R E LLC
$600,000-$1,000,000
60-79 71st St.
$708,000
Single family
3 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms
Louis Pastorini, Coldwell Banker
Phillips
Over $1,000,000
59-36 70th St.
$1,249,000
Multi-family
5 bedrooms, 2 full and 1 half
bathrooms
Richard Gambino, Century 21
American Homes
Under $600,000
57-45 74th St.
$379,000
Single family, condo
1 bedroom, 1 full bathroom
Ahmed Duraliev, Werba Realty
LLC
$600,000-$1,000,000
65-37 79th Place
$698,000
Single family, ranch
2 bedrooms, 1 full bathroom
Christopher Tscherne, Tscherne
Realty Inc
Over $1,000,000
64-56 Admiral Ave.
$1,100,000
Multi-family
5 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms
Louis Campione, Campione
Realty
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