According to StreetEasy’s September Market Report, the Queens neighborhoods of Flushing, Forest Hills and Long Island City are among those with the most homes entering contracts in all of New York City for the month of September. Long Island City and Forest Hills tied for the third-most, with Flushing placing not far behind them at fifth.
Both Forest Hills and Long Island City had 38 homes in contract during September 2023. During that time, the median asking price for homes in contract was $439,500 in Forest Hills and $1,164,636 in Long Island City. Of the 28 homes in Long Island City, 30 of them were sponsor units (first time on the market), with a median asking price of $1.168 million. This represented a 46% increase from September 2022.
Flushing had 31 homes in contract and the median asking price there was $700,000. StreetEasy credits the addition of new developments for playing a big part in contributing to the success in these neighborhoods, as well as others across Queens. Approximately 42% of all the homes that entered contract were sponsor units, representing a 7% increase compared to September 2022. Condo listings there rocketed up 73.5% since then to 262 this year.
In Queens, a total of 337 homes entered contract last September, representing a year-over-year increase of 1.2%. Despite increasing mortgage rates in the borough, there was still steady sales activity. This may be in large part thanks to a larger amount of listings at more affordable price points occurring there as rising rates limit buyers’ options in other boroughs.
Despite the fact that the median asking price in Queens went up 3.3% to $639,000 in September, it is still much more affordable compared to Brooklyn and Manhattan, where the median asking prices are $1.1 million and $1.6 million, respectively. Fewer homes are entering the market in Queens than other boroughs and many homeowners are locked into much lower mortgage rates than today’s. Still, there are new developments contributing to Queens’ amount of inventory. According to the NYC Department of City Planning, 18,249 new units have been added across 1,120 newly constructed buildings since the COVID-19 pandemic.
As a result of this recent boom in additional buildings and units, there has also been a surge in condos across the borough. Year-over-year, 1,625 condo listings joined the Queens market, accounting for 26.2% of all new Queens listings. Half of these condo listings were in sponsor units inside new buildings.
