…The Brooklyn housing market saw a final
quarter of 2012 characterized by unusually
low inventory, which in turn limited the volume
of both re-sale and new development activity
despite the demand generated by record low
mortgage rates. As a result, the price indicators
showed a year-over-year jump across most
market segments. There were 4,685 listings at the end of the
fourth quarter, the metric’s lowest total since we
began tracking it in mid-2008. Listing inventory
was 20.7% below prior year levels, resulting
in a 9.7-month absorption rate, faster than the
11.4-month rate in the same period last year.
Despite record low mortgage rates and a slowly
improving economy, the number of sales fell
7.3% to 1,445 over the same period, as limited
inventory and tight mortgage lending conditions
continued to restrain demand…