Aggregate statistics describing the NYC housing market always confuse me because there are so many exceptions to the general trends in individual neighborhoods, and it is hard to calculate a mean or median that reflects reality when the purchase prices range from a few hundred thousand to 40 million!
This article from a few days ago shows a steep decline in condo sales in Queens, but higher average prices of over 20%:
http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20090407/FREE/904079975The higher avg price is probably due to a bunch of closings in one or two new developments in LIC. But I wonder...condos or even co-ops with contemporary, higher-end renovations are pretty rare in Queens, so there may be buyers out there who can't afford Brooklyn or just want to be in this borough.
Too lazy to look it up, but I remember a NY Times article from last year about rising home prices in some Queens neighborhoods like Kew Gardens, where apparently many immigrant (Polish?) families have been saving and waiting on the sidelines until home prices drop. But then when they all rush in to buy, the prices go up again on a very local scale.
In other words, it seems really difficult to look at the city-wide statistics and infer what will happen in JH over the next few years!