Home sales steady in the northwest Bronx

Home sales in the Bronx as a whole may be starting to outpace growth in Riverdale and Fieldston, but local realtors say the borough is just catching up with real estate trends here.

The Real Estate Board of New York’s (REBNY) report for the first quarter of this year showed a whopping 35 percent increase in home sales for the Bronx as a whole, compared to the same timeframe last year. The total number of market-rate houses, co-ops and condos jumped from 732 to 989. In Riverdale and Fieldston, co-op sales went up from 74 in the first quarter of last year to 112 in the first quarter of this year, while house sales saw a slight increase of 21 to 23 units and condo sales dropped by three, to seven total sales.

“The rest of the Bronx is catching up to Riverdale. The prices were always higher than the rest of Bronx,” said Vasco Da Silva, managing partner at Exclusive Properties Sotheby’s International Realty in Riverdale.

As developers announced a number of new apartment building projects last year, residents voiced fear of over saturation in the housing market here. But Mr. Da Silva said, “demand is exceeding the supply.”

“We are seeing apartment listings that are selling very quickly and there is not a lot of inventory,” he added.

As for the low number of one- to three-family home sales, he said, “There are lot more people willing to spend $500,000 on an apartment than $2 million on a house.”

The average price of a one- to three-family home in Riverdale and Fieldston saw a slight uptick, of 3 percent, to $1.1 million, compared to the first quarter of last year. But the average co-op price dropped 8 percent, to $282,000.

Still, Susan Goldy, director of sales for Halstead Property in Riverdale, said the co-op market has been strong overall and that more apartments will come on the market.

According to Goldy, recent headlines about development in the Bronx have had a positive effect on this part of the borough.

“Riverdale is a gem but… it’s an established gem,” she said. “People are discovering a neighborhood where they can get in on the ground floor.” 

Greg Kochanov, the owner of Moda Realty, attributed the slump in condo sales to this neighborhood’s “limited market” for such homes.

“Riverdale does not have a lot of condos,” he said. There are a couple of buildings that are very expensive. Some of the more expensive condos have sold.”

Over the past year, the average condo price rose 58 percent, from $496,000 to $783,000, according to REBNY.

Mr. Kochanov, who has lived in Riverdale for 20 years, said many people new to this neighborhood were priced out of locales like Astoria, Brooklyn, Hudson Heights and Inwood. He also noticed that new homeowners are paying up-front and not taking out mortgages.

Mr. Da Silva estimated that half of recent sales came from first-time buyers.  

“People adopt a wait-and-see attitude” in an election year, he said, calling it a “positive” sign that the market has been steady in the northwest Bronx.