NYC Real Estate Market Reports
Brooklyn Monthly Report
May 2026
May 2026 at a Glance
Brooklyn recorded 395 signed contracts in May, up 2% year over year, the highest monthly total in the past two years and the first annual gain after four consecutive months of decline. Month over month, activity rose 12% versus April, consistent with typical late-spring momentum. Average days on market came in at 74, the lowest level in the past year, though up 6% versus May 2025 when marketing time had reached its shortest average since 2022. Active listings reached 2,015, the highest figure since June 2022 and the eighth consecutive month of supply growth. Despite rising inventory, average price per square foot climbed to $1,287, up 15% year over year, its sixteenth annual increase in the past twenty months.
The Over-$3M Segment More Than Doubled. Sub-$1M Fell for the Ninth Straight Month.
The price range breakdown tells the whole story of this market in a single chart. Contracts under $1M fell 9% year over year to 212, continuing a slide that has now extended across nine consecutive months. The $1M to $1.5M band was down 5%. The $1.5M to $2M segment was flat at 51 contracts. Everything above $2M accelerated sharply: the $2M to $3M range rose 56% year over year to 50 contracts, and the over-$3M segment more than doubled, rising 118% from 11 contracts to 24. Both categories posted their highest May figures in at least eight years. The borough-wide gain of 2% is real, but it was manufactured entirely at the top. The lower half of the market is still contracting.
Condos Up 8%, Co-ops Down 6%. The Gap Keeps Widening.
Condominiums signed 227 contracts in May, up 8% year over year, their fifth consecutive month of annual gains. Cooperatives came in at 168 contracts, down 6% year over year, the tenth decline in the past twelve months. The divergence between these two product types has been one of the defining patterns of 2026, and May did nothing to narrow it. What made May different from recent months was the co-op pricing story: at $804 per square foot, co-ops were up 14% year over year, driven by strong high-end activity in Brooklyn Heights and Park Slope. Co-op volume is soft. Co-op prices, at least in the core neighborhoods, are not.
Where the Volume Was in May
Park Slope and Gowanus recorded 50 contracts, down just 4% year over year and essentially flat after last month's 29% decline. For a submarket with genuinely limited inventory, 50 contracts represents healthy underlying demand. The buyers who want Park Slope are still there. The listings that price correctly are still moving, in many cases above ask. What is not happening is a wave of new supply to meet them.
Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, and Prospect Heights posted 39 contracts, up 5% year over year. A steady, positive result in a submarket that has been running close to one-to-one on active versus in-contract listings for months. Demand here is consistent, and the inventory picture remains tight enough that well-priced properties do not sit.
Carroll Gardens, Boerum Hill, and Red Hook came in at 25 contracts, up 14% year over year. That is the strongest annual gain this submarket has posted in several months, and it reflects a combination of pent-up buyer demand and some modest improvement in available inventory. The buyer pool in Carroll Gardens has been waiting. When something worth buying comes to market here, the response is real.
Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, Dumbo, and Downtown posted 81 contracts, up 40% year over year. This is where the luxury acceleration is most concentrated. New development at elevated price points and strong resale activity at the upper end of the market are both contributing. This submarket is doing the heavy lifting on the borough's over-$3M numbers.
Bedford-Stuyvesant, Crown Heights, Lefferts Gardens, and Bushwick recorded 43 contracts, up 16% year over year. Relative affordability continues to pull buyers east from the core, and the momentum here has been sustained across multiple months. For buyers who need more than one bedroom at a price point under $1.2M, this is where the search increasingly begins.
Kensington, Windsor Terrace, Ditmas Park, Flatbush, and Prospect Park South posted 37 contracts, down 16% year over year. A meaningful pullback after modest gains in April. This submarket's buyer pool is concentrated in the sub-$1M and low-$1M range, which is where demand is weakest across the borough.
Williamsburg and Greenpoint came in at 47 contracts, down 13% year over year. Supply constraints persist. This market has loyal buyers and limited inventory to sell them, which produces exactly this kind of uneven monthly result.
Southern Brooklyn recorded 73 contracts, down 14% year over year. Consistent weakness driven by rate sensitivity and concentration at the entry-level price points that are the softest segment in the borough right now.
Eight Consecutive Months of Supply Growth. Prices Up 15% Anyway.
Active listings rose 8% year over year to 2,015, the highest count since June 2022. Condo inventory was up 3% annually. Co-op inventory grew 16% year over year, its ninth consecutive month of expansion. The supply growth is real and meaningful. What is also real is that it is not suppressing prices. Average price per square foot rose 15% year over year to $1,287, with condos at $1,424 per square foot and co-ops at $804. The explanation is where the inventory is building: overwhelmingly in co-ops and in the peripheral neighborhoods where buyer demand is weakest. In the core neighborhoods and in the condo segment, supply is not outpacing demand. It is chasing it.
Co-ops Running 3.9% Over Ask. Condos Essentially at List.
Overall negotiability averaged 1.4% above asking price, up 0.4 points year over year. Condos closed at 0.3% below ask, essentially at list price, a slight softening from April's over-ask reading. Co-ops landed 3.9% above ask on average, driven by bidding wars that closed 10% or more above list. Co-op negotiability has now been running at elevated levels for several consecutive months. The buyers competing in that segment are motivated, prepared, and willing to move past the ask when the property justifies it.
What May Actually Means
The first positive year-over-year number in five months is meaningful. It does not mean what the headline suggests. The gain was generated by 13 additional contracts over $3M. Strip those out and the borough is still contracting at the lower and middle price points. For buyers and sellers in Brownstone Brooklyn, that distinction matters.
For sellers in Park Slope, Prospect Heights, Carroll Gardens, Fort Greene, and the surrounding core neighborhoods: May confirms that demand is present and active at competitive price points. The constraint is not buyers. It is inventory. Properties that come to market correctly priced are still moving quickly, and the co-op bidding wars in core neighborhoods suggest there is real unmet demand. The window to list into a supply-constrained market is open.
For buyers: the luxury acceleration is worth watching but does not describe the entire market. Below $1.5M in the right neighborhoods, there are still good properties to buy at reasonable terms. The competition is real but not insurmountable for buyers who are prepared. Above $2M, expect to compete, and expect the number above ask to be the conversation rather than the floor.
May's direction is clear. Pricing is rising even as supply builds. Luxury demand is accelerating. The parts of this market that were soft six months ago are still soft. The parts that were strong are getting stronger.
Thinking About a Move?
The data is one thing. How it affects your specific block, building, and price point is another. That is what fifteen years in this market is for.