July 20, 2020

Brooklyn market sees rough first half of the year with few bright spots

Crain's New York Business

Brooklyn’s commercial real estate market had a rough first half of the year, with only a handful of bright spots occurring amid the pandemic’s devastating impact on the industry.

The borough saw total dollar volume drop by 19% to about $2.2 billion compared to the first half of 2019, while transaction volume dropped by 28% to 357 compared to last year, according to a report from Brooklyn-focused brokerage TerraCRG. The dollar volume drop was even starker from the first quarter to the second quarter, falling by 62% as city officials placed strict lockdown rules on New York.

But it wasn’t all gloom and doom for the borough. Dollar volume ticked up slightly among Brooklyn’s mixed-use properties and development sites, and it skyrocketed by 106% for retail properties. However, this was almost entirely because of Urban Edge’s roughly $165 million purchase of Midwood’s Kingswood shopping portfolio in February, the largest transaction of the year for the borough.

“Yes, it’s terrible, but it’s still New York City,” he said. “It’s still Brooklyn, and there’s still a certain level of comfort because deals close.”

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