Photo: iStockphoto.com

Market reports for Brooklyn and Queens came due today, and as expected, those two boroughs are hurting just like Manhattan. In Brooklyn, number of sales fell a staggering 57 percent from the same time last year (35.8 percent from last quarter), and inventory rose by a modest 1.9 percent. (East Brooklyn was hit hardest, with median sales prices dropping 25.2 percent to $397,000.) The story was similar in Queens, which saw a 52.2 percent decline in sales, though inventory there actually dropped 7 percent. (Perhaps residents realize that now's not the best time to unload property? Especially if they don't need to?) Worth noting, though, is how both areas witnessed "an uptick in contract activity at the end of the quarter," according to Jonathan Miller's survey for Prudential Douglas Elliman, "as buyers began to take advantage of increased affordability due to lower prices, lower interest rates as well as a modest improvement in conventional financing terms." In other words, the buying opportunity may be right now.

Market Reports [Prudential Douglas Elliman]