From increases in the number of affordable homes to the continued growth of Queens and Brooklyn, many exciting things took place within the NYC housing market in 2017. Here is a look back on some of the city’s market stats.
NYC Creates Record Number of Affordable Homes
Last year, New York City managed to finance a record number of affordable homes. In all, a total of 24,536 affordable homes were financed in 2017, breaking the previous record set in 1989 of 23,100. Nearly half of the affordable homes created in 2017 were made available to individuals making less than $33,400 per year and families of three making less than $43,000 per year.
The movement to create more affordable housing in NYC is part of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s commitment to create or preserve 300,000 units of affordable housing by 2026. Since de Blasio took office, the city has financed a 87,557 affordable apartments. Of those that were made available last year, 17,359 were existing affordable units while 7,177 were new homes. The city’s housing lottery system also posted 5,300 apartments last year, which is more than double the 2,500 that were posted in 2014. The previous record of creation of affordable homes in 1989 occurred during the Ed Koch administration.
According to the mayor, housing is the number one expense in the lives of NYC residents, so the administration is dedicated to bringing those prices down and helping more residents find an affordable place to live. The administration has also put legislation in place to help tenants fight evictions and to freeze rents. To assist with this process, the administration has recently launched a housing web portal that assists tenants with locating the resources they need to address housing issues.
Queens and Brooklyn Markets Experience a Slowdown
While prices do remain at record highs in Brooklyn and Queens, the fourth quarter in 2017 showed a pronounced slowdown in sales within the boroughs. In Brooklyn, the median sales price for the fourth quarter was $770,000, representing a 2.7 percent decrease when compared to the previous quarter. Nonetheless, these figures remain the third highest median sales price on record for the borough. The highest occurred during the second quarter, at which time the median price was $795,000. This isn’t anything new for Brooklyn, as the borough has experienced year-over-year increases to median sales prices every quarter for the past 21 quarters.
In Queens, the median sales price reached $559,000 in the fourth quarter, representing a 12.2 percent increase when comparing year over year data. Both median and average sales prices reached record highs in Queens in the last two quarters. These record prices can be largely attributed to the spillover from the Brooklyn market as buyers are outpriced or face inventory shortages. Yet, despite the spillover, Queens did experience a fourth quarter slowdown in sales along with a slight increase in inventory. Sales were down 8 percent while inventory was up 12 percent.