Brooklyn And Queens Drive NYC OffMarket Home Sales Surge

Off-market residential sales rose sharply in 2025 across New York City, expanding from Manhattan’s luxury towers into Brooklyn and Queens. Brooklyn led privately marketed dollar volume with about $5.4 billion in sales, while Queens recorded nearly 5,400 off-market deals, up 21% from 2024. Off-market volume increased at least 30% year over year in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens based on analysis of 2024 and 2025 closings. Brokers increasingly promote private-listing strategies, with some claiming sellers benefit from listing privately first. Industry conflict intensified as brokers criticized private-listing networks and Zillow pursued legal action over alleged coordination to push private listings onto portal feeds. Off-market growth was especially strong in East Williamsburg and Flushing.

"People are now being feared into this thought pattern that if you list privately first, it will help the seller achieve a certain outcome."

"Brokers and listing portals are now in a very public tug-of-war over who controls access to inventory and which properties get mass exposure. Industry leaders such as Brown Harris Stevens CEO Bess Freedman and Corcoran's Pam Liebman have gone on record blasting the growth of private-listing networks, as reported by Inman. At the same time, Zillow has taken legal action to defend its Listing Access Standards after alleging that broker groups coordinated efforts to push private listings onto portal feeds, according to HousingWire."

"Brooklyn led the city in privately marketed dollar volume with roughly $5.4 billion in sales, while Queens racked up nearly 5,400 off-market deals, a 21 percent jump from 2024. The shift is changing where buyers actually find inventory and how brokers pitch would-be sellers across the boroughs."

"The Real Deal's neighborhood breakdown shows the steepest gains outside Manhattan's traditional luxury core. East Williamsburg logged a 170 percent year-over-year spike in off-market volume, while Flushing posted the most off-market transactions overall with 374 closings, a 72 percent increase."

Read at Hoodline