At Almost $5 Million, Hudson Yards Overtakes TriBeCa as the Priciest Neighborhood in NYC

Key takeaways:

• Hudson Yards take top spot by large margin
• TriBeCa falls from top spot for the first time in seven quarters
• Lower East Side jumps to 8^th position on high sale volume
• Manhattan’s median sale price falls to lowest level since 2016

The top 50 most expensive neighborhoods in New York City have seen some flattening in Q3 2019. In fact, the price difference between the second- and tenth-most expensive neighborhood was less than $1 million. Hudson Yards also dethroned Tribeca as the priciest neighborhood, more than doubling it.

Manhattan, Queens, and the Bronx all had decreases in the number of transactions year-over-year. While Queens saw a decrease of 1.4%, Manhattan and the Bronx saw transactions decline by 7.3% and 11%, respectively. The transaction volume in Brooklyn was flat in the same timeframe. New York City’s new “Mansion Tax” that took effect on July 1^st, which likely influenced the decrease in volume as potential buyers acclimate to the new tax.

Additionally, Manhattan’s median sale price fell below $1 million for the first time since Q4 2016. Incidentally, this comes right after an all-time high of $1,340,362 last quarter. While the Bronx had a slower quarter, its median sale price rose 15% to $300,000.

Manhattan and Brooklyn were the only boroughs that saw units trade for more than $3 million. However, both saw significant drops in median home sale prices and transaction volumes. In Brooklyn, the percentage of sales greater than the $3 million threshold fell 44% Y-o-Y to just 24 sales. The median sale price over the threshold fell to $4,075,500—decreasing 3% Y-o-Y.

Manhattan’s transaction volume in the high-end market fell more than 37% to 266 total transactions year-over-year. The median sale price for this market also dropped more than 10% Y-o-Y to $4,477,500—a decline of $515,000.

The largest decline was in the Garment District, which fell 36% Y-o-Y to just under $2 million with only seven transactions. However, this drop keeps the Garment District in the 6^th position, just behind SoHo. TriBeCa, SoHo, Prospect Heights, DUMBO, and Chelsea all saw year-over-year declines of more than 24%, a disruption likely influenced by the mansion tax.

Manhattan neighborhoods accounted for almost half of the list. 24 entries in the top 50 were in Manhattan with Brooklyn coming in second, occupying 22 spots, followed by Queens with 10. Due to several ties, the list adds up to a total of 56 neighborhoods.

In the top 10, Manhattan neighborhoods dominated, once again, with eight entries. Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens are the only neighborhoods outside of Manhattan in the top 10. Carroll Gardens enters the 10^th position with an increase of 28% Y-o-Y.

Read on to see some of the highlights of the study and scroll to the end of the article to view the top-50.

Manhattan Highlights: Lower East Side Rises on Strong Volume

Posting a solid transaction volume of 119 this quarter, Lower East Side’s median sale price grew 87% to almost $1.5 million—moving the neighborhood up eight spots on our list to the 8^th position. Almost two-thirds of the sales were at One Manhattan Square, and the median price of those 71 sales was more than $1.6 million, significantly increasing the neighborhood’s median home sale price.

TriBeCa registered a 30% decline year-over-year to around $2.4 million. However, this drop isn’t nearly as significant as the drop over last quarter. TriBeCa’s median sale price fell almost 45% Q-o-Q from more than $4.3 million.

Little Italy recorded just five sales this quarter but stayed roughly on point for the year with a median sale price of $2.1 million. While this is a decline of $565,000 Q-o-Q, it’s still an increase of 70% Y-o-Y. Two of the five sales came from the prominent 211 Elizabeth, one of which recorded the highest price in the neighborhood at $6.6 million.

SoHo saw a 35% drop year-over-year to $2 million. This deepens the drop that SoHo started experiencing last quarter. In Q2, SoHo posted a median sale price of $2.625 million, putting it in the 4^th spot on our list. This quarter, it falls to 5^th.

Brooklyn Highlights: Carroll Gardens Enters the Top 10

Carroll Gardens’ median sale price of $1.43 million brought it to the 10^th position on our list, up from 13^th last quarter. There were five sales recorded at 145 Carroll Gardens which were easily the most expensive sales in the neighborhood with all of them trading for more than $2.2 million.

Cobble Hill registered a year-over-year increase of 102%, reaching just under the $1.8 million mark. Specifically, eight sales between The Cobble Hill House and Polhemus launched this neighborhood upwards. The Cobble Hill House had four sales with a median price of $2.34 million, and Polhemus also had four sales with a median sale price greater than $5 million.

Although Williamsburg tied at 24^th on our list, it did so with the highest transaction volume in Brooklyn at 134 sales. While it remains a popular neighborhood in Brooklyn, its median home sale price remains just under $1 million.

For the second quarter in a row, there were no sales at the Clock Tower Condominium in DUMBO, further dragging the neighborhood down another $300,000 to just under $1.2 million. Consequently, it fell six spots from last quarter to settle in the 18^th position.

Queens Highlights: Old Howard Beach Enters the List, Grows 50% Y-o-Y

Every Queens neighborhood on our list posted a year-over-year increase this quarter. With a median home sale price of $750,000, Old Howard Beach enters our list with the highest increase in Queens—up 50% Y-o-Y, coming in at the 45^th position.

Ditmars – Steinway crossed the $1 million median home sale price threshold with an increase of 47% Y-o-Y. Last quarter, only the neighborhood of Malba had a median price more than $1 million. However, Malba missed the list this quarter due to low volume.

Methodology

Median home sale prices were calculated based on residential property sales closed between July 1, 2019 and September 30, 2019. The residential properties included in the stats are single-family homes, condos and co-ops. Package deals were excluded.

Only neighborhoods with more than 5 residential sales were included.

Sales from the Civic Center neighborhood were excluded due to the largely commercial make-up of the neighborhood.

The boundaries to some of the neighborhoods in Manhattan vary. Data on several small neighborhoods is included in stats for larger areas. For example, Central Park South is included in Theatre District – Times Square, NoLita is included in Little Italy; NoHo is included in Greenwich Village; Carnegie Hill, Lenox Hill and Yorkville are included in the Upper East Side.