Staten Island’s Shoreline Draws Bidders: Price Momentum Hits Great Kills and South Beach

On the Fourth of July, as fireworks were canceled citywide under the oppressive heat dome, a different sort of spark lit Staten Island’s coastal real estate market. Single-family home closings in historic neighborhoods like Great Kills and South Beach are posting year-on-year gains rarely seen in the borough. The median sale price along Hylan Boulevard, a central artery bordering the waterfront, jumped from $640,000 in June 2025 to $690,000 last month, according to data from the Staten Island Board of Realtors.

This comes at a time when much of New York’s real estate conversation has fixated on sky-high Manhattan co-op prices and Brooklyn’s blistering rental market. But on the city’s southern flank, demand for waterfront ownership is quietly reaching levels not seen since Sandy recovery dollars began reworking the shoreline a decade ago. Tight supply across the five boroughs is pushing families and investors to consider outlying—yet commutable—locales. "A lot of buyers are coming from Park Slope and Windsor Terrace," said a broker from local firm Salmon Realty, who asked not to be identified discussing clients. "They want the water, a backyard, and don’t want to pay $1.6 million for a teardown in Brooklyn."

Neighborhoods Recast by Price Growth

Great Kills, long overshadowed by Todt Hill and the northern ferry corridors, is emerging as an unexpected star. In addition to its namesake park, which hugs the shore off Buffalo Street and Crescent Beach, the district has seen a flurry of two-story townhome renovations. Further north, South Beach—once a sleepy stretch notorious for floodplain worries—is now listed by Compass among the city’s top five fastest-moving coastal submarkets for the first half of 2026. The city’s NYC Build It Back program, which invested over $200 million in post-Sandy resilient housing from 2015-2022, has noticeably raised the caliber of inventory in these pockets. New condos, like Shore Towers on McClean Avenue, have sold out all 46 units within 90 days of release. Even older co-ops along Father Capodanno Boulevard are posting price-per-square-foot increases of up to 12% since last summer, according to Redfin.

Public investments have helped. The $165 million Living Breakwaters project off Tottenville, finished last fall, as well as the expanding Bluebelt stormwater initiative along Oakwood Beach, are changing perceptions of risk and stability along Staten Island’s edge. Local institutions, from the South Shore Yacht Club to PS 38 on Stobe Avenue, report renewed interest from incoming families. Some are drawn by the express bus lines and the still-green waterfront trails of Conference House Park.

Staten Island’s Numbers Catch Attention

The broader trend is visible in the latest stats. Staten Island’s coastal ZIP codes (10308, 10305, and 10306) posted a median sales price increase of 8% over the past twelve months, compared with citywide price growth averaging under 4% according to the NYC Department of Finance. Bidding wars, largely absent pre-pandemic, are becoming routine: a three-bedroom single-family on Tennyson Drive closed at $735,000—$45,000 above ask—in late June, after six days on the market. Inventory remains tight, with just 212 homes listed in the coastal south as of July 1, down 21% from the same date two years ago.

Rental demand is also surging. One-bedroom waterfront apartments at the new Baystone Landing complex lease for $2,890 a month—a figure unimaginable in Grant City three summers ago. There are early signs that local landlords plan to test the limits, especially with rent-stabilized units in short supply and ADU zoning pilots bringing in accessory suite interest along neighborhoods like Midland Beach.

For those considering a move, brokers advise watching the balance between rising insurance costs and the city’s resilience infrastructure rollouts. The borough’s relative resistance to citywide cooling measures during this week’s heat wave has only sharpened interest in its greener, breezier enclaves. With the city’s ADU expansion opening the door for more flexible living arrangements, and the next round of Build It Back grants targeting flood-mitigation retrofits on Ocean Avenue and Mill Road, Staten Island’s southern shore isn’t just a pandemic bounceback story. It’s becoming the city’s next genuine waterfront investment frontier. Expect more open houses—and higher price tags—before summer’s end.