Sellers capitalizing on a robust investment real estate market in Queens - by Rubin Isak

Rubin Isak, Rubin & Isak

Below I will touch on recent sales that will explore when the seller purchased the property and for how much. I will also detail what the new owner has paid for the property. As you will see, the pure profits that sellers are realizing in this market are record breaking:

• 75-10 Grand Central Pwy. in Forest Hills is a 20,220 s/f, 36-unit elevator apartment building that sold on August 25 for $8.6 million. The seller purchased this building in December 2010 for $4.5 million. A 48% increase in five years.

• 24-30 43^rd St. in Astoria is a four-story, eight-unit, walk up apartment building that sold on July 16 for $1.95 million. The seller purchased this building in June of 2010 for $1.515 million. A 23% increase in five years.

• 35-11 9^th St. in Long Island City is a 102,670s/f office building that sold on August 19 for $31.1 million. The seller purchased the building is November 2008 for $11.755 million. A 62.3% increase in seven years.

35-11 9th Street, Long Island City, NY

• 107-01 71^st Ave. in Forest Hills is a single-story retail property, with Citibank as the tenant. The property traded for $28 million on June 2. The previous owner purchased this building only three years ago in December 2012 for $22.7 million. A 19% increase in three years.

• 5-16 47^th Rd. in Long Island City is a four-story, walk-up apartment building with eight units. It sold in July  for $3.1 million. The seller purchased this property two years ago in November 2013 for $1.71 million. A 45% increase in two years.

• 32-38 48th St. in Astoria is a 5,508 s/f, six-family walk-up apartment building. It just sold for an astonishing $3.3 million on July 16. The previous owner purchased this building in July of 2013 for only $750,000. A 78% increase in two years.

• 36-05 Vernon Blvd. in Long Island City is a 10,500 s/f, four-story, eight-unit, walk-up apartment building. The

107-01 71st Avenue, Forest Hills - Queens, NY

property just sold for $3.4 million in July. The sellers purchased this building back in November 2013 for $1.4 million. A 59% increase in two years.

• In September 2012, we sold an eight-family located at 34-21 37^th St. in Long Island City for $1.75 million. On June 26, the sister building two doors down, 34-27 37^th St. sold for $2.475 million to the same buyer. A 30% increase from 2012.

• 23-54 31^st St. in Astoria is a 3,991 s/f, three-story mixed-use building that just sold on June 24 for $1.85 million. The seller just purchased the building two months before that in April for $1.2 million. A 35% increase in two months!

• 43-31 45th St. in Sunnyside is an elevator apartment building with 79,830 s/f and 94 residential units  (plus one commercial unit.) It sold in May for $27.5 million. The seller purchased this building a year earlier, in March for $17.15 million. A 38% increase in a year. (It traded in 2006 for $11.58 million).

• 164-01 Northern Blvd. in Flushing is a 5,468 s/f retail building that sold in July for $4.5 million. The seller purchased this building four years ago in July 2011 for $3.425 million. A 24% increase in four years.

• In April 2011, a single-story, three-unit retail building located at 16024-28 Northern Blvd. in Flushing sold for $1.38 million. It just sold in April for $4.3 million. That is a 68% increase in four years.

• 13101-13139 39^th Ave. in Flushing, is a 99,589 s/f retail building situated on a three-acre site. The seller purchased this massive property in September of 2014 for $54.6 million. They sold it July for $78.3 million. That is a 30% increase in less than a year.

The above transactions are just some examples of how much the Queens investment real estate market has appreciated year over year. Anyone reading this article can sum up the current market with three words; simply astonishing numbers.

Rubin Isak is the CEO of Falco & Isak Realty Services, Queens. N.Y.