Brooklyn home sales soar as buyers flee hyped Manhattan prices

New York

HOME buyers in Brooklyn competed for a record-low number of listings in the fourth quarter, driving up prices in the New York borough that's historically been seen as a refuge from Manhattan's high costs.

Purchases in Brooklyn rose 22 per cent from a year earlier to 2,582, while the median price of those deals climbed 15 per cent to a record US$750,000, according to a report on Thursday by appraiser Miller Samuel and brokerage Douglas Elliman Real Estate.