That's according to the Daily News, which dissects the unraveling economy's effect on middle class housing here. In the outer boroughs, "house sales are falling faster than the Dow." In the last four years, they say, Brooklyn has seen a 52.7 percent drop in home sales, from 12,089 to 5,716; that's 37.5 percent this year alone. A couple of other articles spotlight individual homes in hard hit neighborhoods. In Sheepshead Bay, one family purchased a $630,000 attached brick home last year and couldn't keep up on mortgage payments; the house has been on the market since early summer. In Greenpoint, a family has been trying to trade up from a north Brooklyn condo to a home in Westchester, but even after they lowered the price, no go: interested buyers couldn't get financing. In Bushwick, a woman's home is in foreclosure after tenants didn't cough up the rent. And in Park Slope, a couple offered less than asking price, citing condo projects in the area that haven't sold at all; they call it a "buyer's market." Their offer was accepted. Meanwhile, other neighborhoods poised to be the next Slope or 'Burg are hurting, too, they write.
Trendy Neighborhoods Can't Escape Housing Slump [NY Daily News]
City's Housing Market Hammered in Fallout from Woeful Economy [NY Daily News]
Photo by Runs With Scissors.
