Inside the small, competitive Park Slope condo market
The Prosecco was flowing and the bagels were flying at Abigail Palanca’s open house last month.
“It felt like I needed a clicker, like I should be standing at the door like at a club,” the Serhant agent said. “That was my first time that I didn’t take home a dozen bagels after an open house.”
The occasion? Palanca was showing a Park Slope condo.
While the neighborhood is known for stately townhouses and persnickety co-ops, condos — when available — tend to draw a crowd. Palanca ultimately got eight offers on the duplex at 231 16th Street and signed a contract that was more than 10 percent over the $899,000 asking price.
“There aren’t that many [condos], so when you do get one you have a lot of people that are gravitating towards it,” said Compass agent Tali Berzak.
The demand to be in Park Slope has only gotten hotter. Townhouses — the neighborhood’s offering du jour — that used to trade for $3 million now trade for $5 million. Condos, while less glamorous, offer a broader swath of the city the chance to live out their Brownstone Brooklyn dreams — if not always in a brownstone themselves.
In the first quarter of the year, Park Slope condos sold for on average 4 percent more than their asking price, compared to co-ops and single-family homes, both of which traded at 5 percent discounts, according to data from Marketproof. The condo markup is the highest it’s been since the end of 2020, indicating increased interest in the area from buyers who might not typically look — or be able to look — in the area.
“Condo offers a lot of flexibility for either first-time buyers or buyers that are trying out Brooklyn for the first time,” said Palanca, who estimated that the vast majority of the house hunters at her showing fit those categories.
In January, Unit 8D at 145 Park Place set a new price per square foot record for a resale condo when it traded for $3.23 million, or $2,225 per square foot. The sale was 24 percent over the $2.6 million asking price for the three-bedroom, which sits just off of Flatbush Avenue.
There were four offers on the apartment, three of which were over asking, according to Corcoran’s Jessica Buchman, who had the listing. “I had three different brokers from three different companies text me within two hours [of closing out the listing] and they’re like, ‘Wait, I just saw 145 Park Place close out in our system — is that a typo,’” Buchman said.
The roughly 1,450-square-foot has a second floor with an office space that looks out onto a 1,400-square-foot terrace, which Buchman called a “sky garden,” given it’s not “bombarded by buildings.”
“Three bedrooms in Park Slope is not easy to find,” she said. “It’s in the most demand, and it’s the most elusive. Some of them are in small, little cramped townhouse conversions.”
Buchman’s listing — one in a 47-unit doorman building — benefits from sitting in a strip along Flatbush Avenue that is zoned for greater density while still feeling like the Park Slope of Noah Baumbach movies.
Townhouse conversions have been selling just as well — last year a 908-square-foot converted condo at 851 Carroll Street sold for over $2.1 million, setting the sponsor price per square foot record at $2,333 per square foot.
“This mid-level boutique condominium luxury niche has really become a presence in Park Slope for people that cannot afford what is now a $5 to $6 million-plus brownstone, don’t want to be in a co-op,” said Douglas Elliman’s Nadia Bartolucci, who had the listing at 851 Carroll Street.
On the other end of the spectrum, developers have taken advantage of the 4th Avenue rezoning and put up buildings like the Brooklyn Home Company’s 34-unit project at 350 Butler Street, which has nearly sold out in a few years. Up the road in Boerum Hill, Avdoo & Partners Development’s 105-unit project on Bergen Street has consistently led the borough in monthly contract volume.
Although those buildings can’t quite claim the wrought-iron-gate charm of prime Park Slope, the area is undeniable for potential brownstoners.
“It’s a way to get into the market,” Buchman said. “Then, if you aspire to have a townhouse and your resources allow for that, you trade up.”
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