The Day: Home Prices Skyrocket and Local Sports News

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The white stuff left behind from last week’s snowfall will continue to melt as temperatures rise this weekend. (Photo by Oswaldo Cabrera)

Good morning, Fort Greene and Clinton Hill.

Today is shaping up to be a warmer day, with highs in the lower 40s, according to the National Weather Service. But don’t forget your umbrella, as light freezing rain, sleet and a chance of snow are expected this morning. It’ll be rainy tomorrow too, but be sure to get out on Sunday and enjoy the sunny day with highs in the upper 40s.

  • Home sale prices in Brooklyn hit an 11-year record high in the fourth quarter of 2013, The Real Deal reported. The borough’s median home sale price increased by 11.2 percent – $570,110 from $512,500 in the same period last year – as outlined in the latest Douglas Elliman market report, released yesterday. Frank Percesepe of The Corcoran Group, which put together its own fourth-quarter sales report, told the site that the borough’s rising prices were driven by an increasingly tight inventory. Corcoran’s report noted that Fort Greene, Clinton Hill and Prospect Heights collectively saw average condo prices jump 38 percent to $689,000 from $499,000 in the fourth quarter of 2013.
  • If you’re near a TV at 10 a.m., be sure to flip to Channel ABC 7, where the Brooklyn Pitbulls Youth Football Program, a community-based organization that teaches kids football at Commodore Barry Park and focuses on their developmental needs, will be featured on a segment of The Rachel Ray Show.
  • One local college basketball player received high honors this week. St. Joseph’s College player David Louison, a junior at the school, has been named to the D3Hoops.com Team of the Week after averaging 24.5 points and 9.5 rebounds per game over a two-game stretch from Dec. 30 through Jan. 5. Louison, the first Brooklyn Bear to ever receive this honor, also earned the D3Hoops.com Atlantic Region Rookie of the Year title in his freshman campaign.
  • In other local sports news, the Long Island University Brooklyn Blackbirds will host the St. Francis College Terriers in the annual “Battle of Brooklyn” basketball game, to be held on Saturday at noon in the Barclays Center. General admission tickets are $15, and a limited number of complimentary tickets will be available for children in Brooklyn. For more information or to request complimentary tickets for the game, you can reach Greg Fox, LIU Brooklyn’s Associate Director of Athletics, at gfox@liu.edu or (718) 488-1018.