Frequent premiums, fewer fresh agreements

Brooklyn’s August sales figures tell two stories at once. StreetEasy found that 31.9% of homes sold above their latest asking price, compared with 21.8% citywide. Yet 432 Brooklyn homes entered contract, down 10.9% from a year earlier. The premium share describes completed sales; the contract count records a newer set of agreements.

That timing difference matters. A decline in fresh agreements can sit alongside competition for homes whose sales are completing. A high share of premiums does not establish how much buyers paid above the ask, or tell us what happened to every listing still on the market. Each figure describes its own group of homes.

MM&Co. perspective

Pay particular attention to “latest asking price.” A home can sell above that benchmark after an earlier price reduction. The result is neither a comparison with every original listing price nor a measure of appreciation for a fixed set of properties. When assessing one apartment, follow its price history and compare relevant completed transactions. The borough figure offers context for the competition among homes that sold; the individual history shows how a particular deal reached the closing table.