At the height of the financial crisis in 2008, there were some people who bought or invested in condos in New York City, believing those investments would pay off in the long run. It turns out, they were right, according to a report by PropertyShark [1].
“Most homebuyers who acquired a piece of real estate back in 2008—especially in Brooklyn and Manhattan—managed to sell their assets for a profit in 2017,” the report states.
PropertyShark looked at about 1,000 homes in New York City that were bought in 2008 and sold in 2017. From just sale prices alone, the report found that the median price of $500,000 in 2008 jumped to more than $677,000 last year. Adjusted for inflation, those properties would have sold for about $582,000 in 2008.
“That’s still a decent profit,” the report stated, “but far from what investing in the stock market, for example, would’ve gotten you.”
For context, the report found that $500,000 invested in Dow Jones stock in 2008 would have yielded $1.4 million by 2017.
Still, the New York City real estate scene did show some notable growth over the decade since 2008. Brooklyn prices (median price $440,000 in 2008) increased 50 percent by 2017. That was the largest growth in the Five Boroughs. Manhattan (median price $850,000 in 2008) grew 25 percent, to $1.1 million median. Lower Manhattan, the Upper West Side, and an area in Harlem featured the largest increases during that time.
Elsewhere in New York, about 230 homes purchased in Queens in 2008 (median: $219,000) sold for a 32 percent profit last year. Adjusted for inflation, though, the growth in Queens was about 10.5 percent over the decade.
“The Long Island City ZIP area had the most expensive transactions and a median change of $285,000,” the report stated. The priciest sale in the borough was a unit at 509 48th Avenue, which changed hands for almost $2 million in 2017. That's 70 percent more than the property sold for in 2008.
The only borough to see values drop was Bronx. While median prices there did rise 4 percent over the decade (from $190,000 to $197,000), inflation over the decade effectively translated to an 11 percent drop in prices, the report found.