This vintage photograph from the New York City Department of Records and Information shows the old Oceana Theater on Brighton Beach Avenue in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, circa 1940. The building still exists today and is still a performance hall known as Master Theater. Here is a Google StreetView of how the same view looks today:

Using data from the NYC Department Of Finance, real estate search and analysis website PropertyClub.nyc recently tracked the City's million dollar listings over the past fifteen years. Compiling the data into this interactive bar chart broken down by borough, it's easy to see how homes priced over $1 million have gradually become the norm in Manhattan, and are gradually reaching that level in Brooklyn and Queens. Here are some of the key takeaways:

• Brooklyn is now the fastest growing destination for million dollar properties in NYC, with total closed sales volume for the year (2018) hitting $3 billion in this segment

• 2018 brought the first slowdown in luxury sales since the 2008 financial crisis

• Out of the over 65,000 million dollar homes sold in the past 15 years in New York City, 78% were in Manhattan

• In the early 2000s, $1 million+ property sales were fairly rare, with only 1,753 sales being recorded in 2003 across New York City. By 2017 that number rose to 6,881, with 2018 bringing in similar results

• In terms of sales volume, while early 2000s saw less than $3.7 billion generated by transactions in the $1 million+ segment, 2017 shattered all previous records with slightly over $20 billion in transactions

Check out the accompanying article for more.

Good morning! Wishing you a happy Thursday, February 28th, 2019 from all of us at Viewing NYC!

Here's what the weather looks like in the City right now.