July 16 (Bloomberg) -- Brooklyn home prices fell 16 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier and sales of new condominiums slid by almost half as New York City unemployment rose to the highest since 1997.

The median price of all properties, including condos, co- ops, and one- to three-family homes, dropped to $441,090, appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. and broker Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate said in a report today. The decline is the biggest since values began falling there in 2007’s fourth quarter and the most since Miller Samuel began tracking the data six years ago.

Unemployment in New York City climbed to 8.7 percent in May as Wall Street losses and asset write downs topped $1.47 trillion worldwide. By 2010, City Comptroller William Thompson forecasts the number of unemployed New Yorkers will hit a 15- year high. Transactions are falling as banks restrict lending, said Jonathan Miller, president of Miller Samuel Inc.

“Rising unemployment is clearly impacting the level of demand,” Miller said in an interview. Banks are requiring “larger down payments, much more onerous terms. There doesn’t seem to be a noticeable easing or improvement in lending practices,” he said.

Sales in Brooklyn slid 30 percent to 1,428 properties in the second quarter from a year earlier. The unsold inventory rose to 6,330 and it took sellers an average of 146 days to find a buyer, according to the report.

New Condominium Rout

Newly developed condos in neighborhoods including Williamsburg fared the worst in the Miller Samuel-Prudential survey. The median price dropped 15 percent to $491,891 and sales plunged by 48 percent from a year earlier.

Developers including Toll Brothers Inc., the largest luxury homebuilder, cut prices in Brooklyn as a flood of apartments hit the market in the recession.

Sales of all condos declined 46 percent from a year earlier, according to the report. The overall median for condos fell 7.7 percent to $475,283. Condo buyers hold the deed to their property. Co-op owners get shares in a corporation that controls the building.

The luxury market, defined as the top ten percent of all sales in the borough, fell 18 percent to a median price of $983,622. The number of sales fell 30 percent to 142 and the listing discount was 7.6 percent.

Prices for one- to three-family homes in northwest Brooklyn, including neighborhoods such as Park Slope and Carroll Gardens, declined by 18 percent to a median price of $980,000. One-family houses declined 39 percent to a median of $800,000 and three-family units fell 18 percent to $1.1 million. Two- family houses rose by 4.6 percent to a median of $965,000.

In Queens, home values declined 14 percent to a median of $362,000 in the second quarter, Miller Samuel and Prudential said in a separate report released today. Transactions in that borough declined by 45 percent, to 2,129 in the second quarter.

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

Last Updated: July 16, 2009 00:01 EDT