The Slope is best known for its stately townhouses, situated on tree-lined landmarked blocks with uneven century-old bluestone sidewalks and shoals of strollers, yoga moms, joggers, and high schoolers jostling for space. But Park Slope gets its name from Prospect Park, Brooklyn’s equivalent of Central Park, and living in such proximity to the verdant oasis and all it has to offer makes the neighborhood a real estate gold.
As Brooklyn’s prices have soared, Park Slope has soared with them with its celebrated townhouses listed for once unfathomable numbers with condo developments also in high demand.
Year-Over-Year Double-Digit Increase
To give an idea of the Slope’s ascendency, at the end of the pandemic, during the Spring of 2021, when Compass released its Q1 market report, Northwest Brooklyn, which includes Park Slope had a median sales price of $1.2 million. A current snapshot of price-points on realtor.com, which is sure to be conveyed when major brokerages release their Q4 figures, has the median price up to $1.6 million. Although Property Shark skews the Q3 figures lower with a median sales price still at $1.2 million ($1,232 per square foot), there’s still no doubt that year-over-year, there has been a double-digit increase.
527 3rd Street, Courtesy of Compass
Always top of Brooklyn’s Brownstone Charts
Park Slope townhouses have always been a status symbol that has kept them perennially at the top of Brooklyn’s brownstone price charts. In November a townhouse in one of Park Slope’s best blocks on the wide, tree scarfed (527) 3rd Street went into contract with an asking price of $7.25 million. The restored and renovated home spans 4.016 square feet and has five bedrooms and four bathrooms.
Other high-priced townhouses currently for sale are 17 Prospect Park West, listed for a jaw-dropping $12 million, 250 Garfield Place, listed for $8 million, and 108 Eighth Avenue, listed for $7 million.
1 Prospect Park West
When it comes to condos, one development, in particular, is pushing the sales envelope. Located at the intersection of Grand Army Plaza, Union Street, overlooking Prospect Park, 1 Prospect Park West has reinvented a gorgeous old building with 64 one-to-four bedroom condos. Highlights include a fairytale-like roof garden, soothing spacious light-hued residences with Art Deco coving, and dramatic windows. StreetEasy shows that there have been 13 previous sales with 39 currently in contract, with an average price of $1,822 per square foot with an average price of $3,695,769.
Let’s Talk About Fourth Avenue
If those numbers are a little rich for your blood, further away from the park, on Fourth Avenue, at the border of Park Slope and Gowanus — a former characterless thoroughfare of auto repair shops and carwashes — slightly cheaper deals can be found. The main transit artery to South Brooklyn, Fourth Avenue been reinvented since it was rezoned. It’s now home to a slew of gleaming new condos such as 575 Fourth, a 70-unit development of one-to-four bedroom homes spanning 11 stories. According to StreetEasy, it has had 63 previous sales averaging $1,156 per square foot and $1.18 million per residence. The four homes currently in contract up the sales price to an average of $1.32 million. All of the one-bedroom units which started at $650,000 have now been sold.
Nearby is Six Garfield, also known as 269 Fourth Avenue, a modern warm gray brick building with contemporary cantilevered upper floors. The development contains 33 units over 12 stories. It currently has 13 homes in contract, averaging $1,420 per square foot with an average sales price of $1.46 million, according to StreetEasy. One-bedroom apartments here are priced at the relatively affordable $725K.
Anywhere that has a 11215 zip code, or claims to be Park Slope (years ago 5th Avenue was considered to be the outskirts of Park Slope. That has now been pushed to 4th Avenue) is going to command a premium price. However, the further away you get from the “gold coast” of Park Slope around Prospect Park, the less expensive properties become. With the BAM area of Downtown Brooklyn now joining with 4th Avenue, you might have to start looking into Gowanus or north Prospect Heights, Crown Heights and BedStuy or further south into Sunset Park to find something substantially more affordable. However, with interest rates at historic lows and developers keen to sell remaining units in their condos, buying in Park Slope is still considerably more affordable than renting.
