For the previous twenty years Brooklyn has developed and emerged as an excellent borough; another for institutional capital in New York Metropolis, and in some metrics, topping the undefeated borough of Manhattan.

The next main components have contributed to this pattern:

• Not second class. Brooklyn has grow to be the primary alternative for residents, companies and traders.
• Dimension. The borough accounts for 23% of New York Metropolis’s land space and consists of 31% of town’s inhabitants, leading to a densely populated 39,438 residents per sq. mile.
• Variety of merchandise and areas. Brooklyn gives high quality belongings out there for institutional funding. For instance: multifamily, workplace and improvement belongings positioned Downtown; industrial/warehouse in Purple Hook and East New York; improvement in newly rezoned, up and coming areas like Gowanus and beforehand rezoned neighborhoods like Williamsburg; and reasonably priced housing-driven areas in a number of neighborhoods. This range attracts totally different buckets of institutional capital comparable to: opportunistic, core, core plus and mission pushed.

Brooklyn Funding Gross sales 2017-2022

Brooklyn Noticed File Greenback Quantity and Almost Half of NYC’s Transactions in 2022

The desirability of Brooklyn as a vacation spot for capital was evident in final 12 months’s numbers when complete funding gross sales exceeded $10 billion for the primary time ever, surpassing the earlier report of $9.19 billion from 2015, which is a exceptional milestone, highlighted in Ariel’s 2022 Brooklyn 12 months-Finish Business Actual Property Tendencies. The borough additionally accounted for 45% of New York Metropolis’s 2,716 transactions, and 25% of town’s $38.4 billion in greenback quantity.

Brooklyn Funding Gross sales Quantity 2022 vs 2021

My associate Sean Kelly famous that Brooklyn “completed the 12 months with 16 transactions of $100+ million, almost doubling the 9 from 2021. Constructing off 2021, which noticed rents and emptiness charges return to pre-pandemic ranges, many traders reemerged from the sidelines and helped Brooklyn obtain its greatest 12 months thus far.”

The numerous $100+ million transactions included:

• Avanath Capital Administration’s $314.5 million buy of the totally free market multifamily constructing at 38 sixth Ave & 535 Carlton Ave, which was the California-based funding agency’s first buy in New York Metropolis.
• The second largest sale in Brooklyn was A&E’s $248.7 million buy of the Lefrak South BK Multifamily Portfolio consisting of 14 buildings with over 75% of the models lease stabilized.
• Moreover, KKR bought for $190 million 80 Dekalb Ave in Fort Greene, a mixed-use, elevator constructing with a 25-year 421a tax exemption that started in FY 2010-2011.

Multifamily Market Recorded the Most Transactions Ever

These massive offers contributed to Brooklyn’s multifamily market having its strongest 12 months thus far in 2022, ending with 807 transactions, probably the most ever recorded within the borough. This represents a 29% enhance from 2021’s 624 transactions. Greenback quantity ended the 12 months at $5.3 billion, additionally an all-time excessive, and up 10% from 2021. Excluding the Starrett Metropolis Portfolio partial curiosity sale in August 2021 for $1.3 billion, the year-over-year greenback quantity would have elevated by 33%. The typical worth per sq. foot for multifamily reached $459, a 23% enhance in comparison with 2021 and the very best common ever recorded within the borough.

Nonetheless, like the remainder of town, the Housing Stability and Tenant Safety Act (HSTPA) of 2019 modified investor habits final 12 months, prompting institutional traders and different patrons to bypass lease stabilized buildings in favor of free market multifamily belongings, together with smaller buildings.

“Though the borough noticed many sizable offers, small multifamily buildings with fewer than six models truly accounted for over 50% of the multifamily transactions within the borough final 12 months, and 93% of the multifamily gross sales traded for $10 million or much less,” mentioned Director Stephen Vorvolakos. “Our group has had an amazing quantity of success with smaller properties and obtain a number of gives as quickly as we go to market with these buildings. We don’t see this momentum slowing down anytime quickly except the legal guidelines governing lease stabilized buildings change.”

The Carlyle Group is one instance of institutional capital that has been pursuing buildings with 10 models or much less and final 12 months refinanced a mortgage for 39 properties in Brooklyn and Queens for $500 million.

Improvement Market Remained Robust Regardless of Expiring Tax Abatement Program

Brooklyn’s improvement market remained robust, recording over $1.6 billion in gross sales throughout 166 transactions, with most of those offers permitting builders to construct rental housing. Brooklyn noticed 38 improvement transactions of $10 million or extra, a 31% enhance from 2021, and the common worth per buildable sq. foot rose 10% to $278 in 2022 in comparison with the earlier 12 months.

“This substantial improvement exercise isn’t any shock as a result of daily we discuss in regards to the perpetual scarcity of housing in New York Metropolis, which is driving up rents,” Kelly mentioned. “Increased rents have considerably offset the rise in labor and materials prices, so pricing has remained fairly steady.”

Williamsburg continued to be the recent spot for improvement with 33 transactions totaling $325 million accounting for 19% of gross sales in Brooklyn final 12 months. In Gowanus, which was rezoned for residential use in late 2021, transaction quantity noticed a robust uptick with eight transactions, doubling its complete from 2020 & 2021 mixed. Madison Realty Capital’s buy of 350-355 Hicks Road in Cobble Hill for $142 million was the most important improvement web site sale in Brooklyn since 2019. The subsequent two highest gross sales have been in Flatbush and Brighton Seaside, a sign that builders are spreading their tasks all through the borough.

Politics additionally performed a job in investor selections within the improvement market final 12 months. The New York State Legislature allowed the 421a/Reasonably priced New York tax abatement to run out on June fifteenth, which triggered a burst of gross sales exercise within the months earlier than as builders rushed to get their shovels within the floor earlier than the deadline.

We’re hopeful {that a} successor program to 421a will likely be launched as each Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams are advocating for incentives to encourage new housing improvement. The governor additionally has proposed extending the deadline to acquire a TCO for 421a tasks by 4 years to 2030. Below the present program, builders are required to complete building by June 2026 to obtain the property tax break.

“With out an extension, it’s going to be very, very troublesome for the bigger tasks to finish their tasks in three years, though will probably be achievable for the smaller to mid-sized tasks,” Kelly mentioned. “So, I feel there’s going to be plenty of transactional quantity within the capital markets, financing the development for rental tasks and we’ll see some gross sales as nicely. We’re truly simply hitting the market with a web site in Gowanus that may enable for the development of 140 models.”

Industrial/Warehouse/Storage Gross sales Jumped 76%

The economic/warehouse market continued to thrive in Brooklyn throughout the publish pandemic period as extra retailers shifted into the web house. Greenback quantity totaled $1.3 billion, a 76% enhance year-over-year, the very best quantity ever recorded in Brooklyn, whereas transactions have been flat at 99. The $492 per gross sq. foot common is a Brooklyn report, surpassing 2021 of $425 by 14%, which was the earlier excessive.

The rise in greenback quantity might be attributed to the $332 million sale of 640 Columbia Road in Purple Hook and the $228.5 million sale of 554 & 578 Cozine Avenue in East New York, each within the first half of 2022. Each properties are totally leased to Amazon and are the 2 largest industrial/warehouse gross sales ever in Brooklyn. Along with the Columbia Road sale, Purple Hook noticed six transactions totaling $70 million in 2022.

What to Count on within the Stability of 2023

Brooklyn right this moment offers a rising and vital different to any sort of institutional capital. We consider that 2023 will likely be one other robust 12 months for the borough and are already conscious of a number of belongings slated to shut from reasonably priced housing complexes to opportunistic improvement websites. In a approach, Brooklyn gives all the things out there in Manhattan, the Bronx and Queens in a single borough. The institutional narrative is powerful.

To learn the total Brooklyn 2022 12 months-Finish Business Actual Property Tendencies report, please click on HERE. Please see my podcast in regards to the Brooklyn market beneath.