Feb. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Toll Brothers Inc., the largest U.S. luxury homebuilder, is slashing prices on its Brooklyn condominiums by as much as 37 percent to spur sales after its unsold inventory spent two years on the market.

Prices at the eastern tower of the waterfront Northside Piers project in Williamsburg were reduced starting Feb. 3 for all types of apartments, said Florence Clutch, the sales manager.

“We wanted to get them into a price range that made sense to people,” David Von Spreckelsen, a senior vice president in Toll’s New York City urban division, said in an interview.

The national housing slump is starting to hit the New York metropolitan area. Manhattan apartment sales fell 9.4 percent in the fourth quarter and in Brooklyn prices tumbled 7.5 percent in the period as Wall Street job losses reduced demand, according to data from appraiser Miller Samuel Inc.

Toll is now selling two-bedrooms starting at $690,000, down 21 percent from $869,000 at the beginning of last week. Three- bedrooms now start at $860,000, down 20 percent from $1.075 million. Penthouses now cost $950,000, down $1.5 million.

Units at One Northside Piers have been on sale since January 2007, said Von Spreckelsen. Toll wants to clear the inventory to make way for sales at Two Northside Piers, which opened for sales in October 2008.

Few Sales Earlier

Sixty of the earlier tower’s 180 units had not been sold as of last week when the sale was announced, Von Spreckelsen said. Since then, five units have contracts pending, he said.

Buyers are so cautious right now the only way to lure them is to cut prices, said David Michonski, chief executive officer of Coldwell Banker Hunt Kennedy, a commercial and residential brokerage.

“There is a stirring going on in the market, but only at a lower price point,” Michonski said. “Once prices reach a certain level there is a market -- and a robust market.”

More price reductions are likely, he said, “especially if this works, which I think it will.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Oshrat Carmiel in New York ocarmiel1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: February 9, 2009 17:51 EST