A Brownstone for $272,000?
We know times are tough, but $100 a foot for a brownstone? Yessirree, Bob. This three-story, 2,400-square-foot building at 224 Lexington Avenue in Bed Stuy that sold in September obviously needs work but it’s still gotta be the cheapest transaction of its kind in recent memory. Unless, that is, you include the $260,000 price the…
We know times are tough, but $100 a foot for a brownstone? Yessirree, Bob. This three-story, 2,400-square-foot building at 224 Lexington Avenue in Bed Stuy that sold in September obviously needs work but it’s still gotta be the cheapest transaction of its kind in recent memory. Unless, that is, you include the $260,000 price the seller paid just three months earlier for the down-on-its-luck property. Of course, in the end, the lawyers and gov’t were probably the only ones to make any money on the deal.
“I doubt seriously that houses of this size in Stuy Heights are going to go anywhere near this low”
In absolute terms, no. This low fell from a high that was nowhere near those of Stuy Heights.
In percentage terms, yes. The average Bed Stuy peak for a brownstone this size (only 3 stories) was probably $500K. Comps like the one above would make it half off. Four-story Stuy Heights brownstones will go from about $1.5M (Clinton Hill prices) to $750K. Again, half off.
One boom, one bust. No decoupling.
Wow, I am amazed that brownstones are selling for over a million in Clinton Hill just two blocks away. Is Clinton Hill ONLY the Classon and Clinton-Wash G train stops? That’s one tiny neighborhood.
Also, how do we know this wasn’t some kind of in-the-family deal?
Wasder that’s crazy talk. If places like Clinton Hill, Park Slope and even Prospect Park become more affordable do you really think people are going to consider the further out Stuy Heights?
Now Stuy Heights may not be as cheap as the crack house on Lexington but it won’t be that much more expensive. Stuy Heights is far- there is nothing near that area. If given the economic choice -which soon many will have, they will chose more conventient Brooklyn neighborhoods. Or even more convenient Bed Stuy neighborhoods.
I didn’t say anything about any neighborhoods being immune, just that Bed Stuy has a more exaggerated price-range than many neighborhoods, due to its extreme variability block to block. I am anything but a wide-eyed booster. All of Bed stuy will experience drops, as will most every neighborhood in the city. But I doubt seriously that houses of this size in Stuy Heights are going to go anywhere near this low.
sorry I have to chime in about neighborhoods being immune–there’s no such thing, not in NY. I had a brownstone in the 70s (bought for $30K between RSD and WEA in Manhattan), then moved to CPW–the entire upper west side was flat out dangerous, with pockets of relative safety. These were grand areas that went down in flames with the 70s era, then only gradually recovered. The boosterism is kind of sweet, but please don’t kid yourself about what’s going on right now.
Can somebody please fix the needle? Nowhere is immune, wasder. Nowhere will be spared. Bed Stuy proper, Stuy Heights, you name it, everything will go down in tandem (percentage-wise, give or take a few negligible points). They sure as hell went up in tandem. The difference between hoods was already priced in before the boom took off (of course SH will remain more expensive than BSP). We are going back to 2003 or worse (never sleep on the overshoot).
that’s such a sweet little house. someone is going to have some fun renovating that!
DOW–this may be where some of Bed Stuy is headed but not all. More than most neighborhoods, Bed Stuy is variable in a block by block sense. This part of the neighborhood is not nearly as nice, safe or attractive as Stuyvesant Heights. So I might believe that some blocks of Bed Stuy could fall like that, the areas around Lewis AVe and Stuyvesant Ave are not going to plummet to levels anything like this. This house is a shell in a crappy part of the neighborhood (although within reasonable distance to Clinton Hill, which is an upside).
Seller’s just ahead of all others. This is where Bed Stuy prices are headed, back to 2003. The DOW’s almost there. Housing lags. Wall St’s on sabbatical.