Bronx and Staten Island home-sale prices soared 35 percent during the first quarter of 2016 — far above the rest of the city, according to the Real Estate Board of New York’s latest report.
The folks buying in these boroughs have been priced out of Brooklyn or they are “cashing out” — selling for a high price in Brooklyn and buying more affordable homes on Staten Island or in The Bronx. “They are using the rest of the money as their retirement nest egg — so they will have more money to do the things they love to do, like travel,” said broker Lisa Lonuzzi of the Corcoran Group.
New Yorkers are also attracted to Staten Island and The Bronx because property taxes are lower than in Westchester or New Jersey. Staten Island taxes for a home can be “$6,000 or less.”
A total of 11,827 New York City homes were sold in the first quarter of 2016, which was a 5 percent increase from the first quarter of 2015.
Bronx prices soared thanks to a 24 percent increase in sales of 1- to 3-family homes, to 699 sales, out of 989 total home sales. Staten Island boasted a 31 percent rise to 1,021 sales of such homes, out of 1,195 total sales.
By comparison, the average sales price in New York City as a whole increased 1 percent to $911,000 from $898,000 in the first quarter of 2015.