The Rockaways are doing poorly. Home sales in the spit of neighborhoods in southeastern Queens dropped 39.8 percent annually in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to a report from Miller Samuel and Prudential Douglas Elliman. That's a steeper drop than in any other area of Queens analyzed in the report, except for northwestern Queens, which is dominated by new condo development and where sharp drops aren't unexpected.
The Rockaways' drop reflects a general housing stagnation throughout the city's largest borough by area. It is also an ominous reminder that the housing decline nationwide started with your average, middle-class home far from the glitz of Manhattan's condos; and that that decline will not reverse itself until those homes, through more readily available credit, start selling again. read more »
