Second Quarter 2019: Real Estate Market Report – Bronx County, New York

Strong demand in the Bronx housing market in the second quarter of 2019 drove pricing up even while limited inventory stifled sales growth.

Pricing. Overall pricing was up 14.5% compared to the second quarter of last year, and up for most property types: rising a whopping 32% for single‑family homes, 4% for multi‑families, and 11% for condos. The exception was pricing for cooperative apartments, which fell about 9% for the quarter – even while it was up over 2% for the rolling year.

Sales. We saw much the same story in sales, which were up 3% for single‑families, 9% for multi‑families, and 10% for condos – but, again, were down for coops, by almost 20%. We do not see why coops would be behaving so differently from other property types, so we will keep an eye on this for the third quarter.

Inventory. The number of homes for sale was up in most property types, with homeowners responding to the attraction of rising prices. Inventory is still, though, in the 5‑6 month range for most property types, a level that usually indicates a seller’s market.

Outlook. Going forward, we believe that Bronx sellers and homeowners have reason to be optimistic about where the market is going. The fundamentals are very strong: the economy is growing, inventory is still low, interest rates are near historic lows, and demand is strong. We expect that, even with the challenges of a slowdown in Manhattan, the Bronx market will grow through the summer and fall, with both sales growth and price appreciation