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DJ Johnston

Executive Vice President | multifamily | New York, NY
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About DJ

DJ Johnston is a professional real estate agent at Matthews™ where he leads investment sales in Brooklyn, NY. DJ has become an indispensable figure within the industry with a career dedicated to real estate excellence and passion. To date, he has helped clients value over 2,000 properties and has personally executed the sale of 350 transactions, with an aggregate value of $1.5 billion.


Previously, he was a Partner and Senior Managing Director at B6 Real Estate Advisors, where he was the top producer for 5 consecutive years. Prior to B6 Real Estate he was a Director at Massey Knakal Realty, starting his career in 2009. Massey Knakal Realty was acquired by Cushman in Wakefield in 2015 where he worked for three years.

DJ prides himself on being a fair and transparent salesperson while always putting his client’s needs first. He is a thoughtful and creative marketer, understanding every listing is truly unique. He has a reputation for sourcing the perfect buyer on every listing and uncovering value that others may overlook.

Born and raised in New Rochelle, New York, DJ graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Finance from the University of Scranton. He attended Iona Prep for High School and is an active alumnus. His previous work experience includes Equity Sales and Trading at Ota, LLC, Advertising Sales at ESPN, Litigation Legal Services at Merrill Communications, and Investor Relations at the hedge fund Kingstown Capital.

Outside of his professional realm, He is an avid skier and runner but, above all, enjoys spending time with his family of five – wife, Sarah, sons, James, and Tommy, and their daughter, Olivia.


B.S., Finance

University of Scranton


Professional Accomplishments
  • 2025 – Chairmans Club – Matthews™
  • 2025 – Crexi Platinum Broker Award
  • 2024 – Sales Achievement Award – Matthews™

Affiliations & Memberships
  • New York Real Estate Commission
  • License No. 10401225168 (NY)
Contact DJ

DJ Johnston in the Media

Queens, NY Mixed-Use/Retail Market Report 2025

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Blog image for New York City Mayor Election CRE Implications

Mamdani’s Election and Its Impact on New York City Commercial Real Estate

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Brooklyn, NY Market Report H1 2025

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2024 Year-End | Multifamily Market Report | North Brooklyn, NY image

2024 Year-End | Multifamily Market Report | North Brooklyn, NY

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Case Studies

Image of How Matthews™ Generated 15 Offers for a Record Outcome on Putnam Ave Success Story

How Matthews™ Generated 15 Offers for a Record Outcome on Putnam Ave

Matthews™ successfully represented the seller in the disposition of a mixed-use property located at 1701 Putnam Avenue in Ridgewood, NY. The 6,290-square-foot asset featured a balanced unit mix of four residential apartments and four retail spaces and ultimately sold for $2,880,000.   Challenge The primary challenge was achieving the seller’s target pricing in a competitive yet price-sensitive mixed-use market. Although buyer interest was robust, ownership required a specific price point to execute a planned out-of-state investment.   Strategy Matthews™ agents David Caba and DJ Johnston launched a focused marketing campaign supported by a comprehensive offering memorandum that clearly highlighted the property’s mixed-use fundamentals, neighborhood demand, and upside potential. Within the first three weeks of marketing, Caba and Johnston generated 15 qualified offers and structured a competitive bidding environment.   Rather than simply selecting the highest initial bid, they carefully vetted buyers based on pricing, financial strength, experience with mixed-use assets, and demonstrated ability to close. This approach preserved leverage for the seller while pushing buyers to sharpen their terms and increase pricing.   Result Caba and Johnston’s competitive process drove the final sale price $180,000 above the next closest offer, exceeding initial expectations and fully aligning with the seller’s objectives. The selected buyer met the seller’s pricing requirements and provided certainty of execution, allowing the client to confidently redeploy capital into investments in another state. Matthews™ delivered both maximum value and timely execution for the seller in the smooth closing of this transaction.

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David Caba

Associate

Image of 382 Kosciuszko Street Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, NY Success Story

382 Kosciuszko Street Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, NY

A premium exists, but you need to hunt it down… Justify the Premium One block in the right or wrong direction can sway value by 20%, especially in neighborhoods like Bedford-Stuyvesant. While most investors underwrote this as a cap rate deal, there was demand from local investors that could underwrite this as short term cash flow plus an opportunity to occupy as an end-user down the line. This allowed Matthews™ to compress cap rates by about 100 bps to a 6.3% cap, down from the neighborhood average of 7.3%. As local specialists for the last 15 years, the Matthews™ agents knew exactly what blocks warrant these premiums and where values might start to fall off.   Hunt Down the Premium Don’t be lazy, always call the neighbors! When launching a new listing, several call lists are built. These lists include buyers of comparable sales over the last 2 years, recorded bidders on similar current/ historical listings, and all owners within a 5-block radius of the subject. 50% of the time our top buyer will come from one of these 3 lists, but you need to allocate the time to make these calls, which can take weeks to execute properly. A single broker doesn’t have the time / resources to make 500+ calls in the span of 2 weeks, which is why we always staff our assignments appropriately. In this case, the buyer of Kosciusko was related to a purchaser of a similar building 2 blocks away. That buyer introduced us to his friend, who ultimately ended up outbidding the rest of the market. That one phone call earned our client an extra $100,000.   If you are selling a building in NYC, you should absolutely know who is staffed to the assignment and what is their role. Broker commissions are large enough to support a team of executors, but are you getting the value you deserve, and is each member of the brokerage is properly incentivized for the work that is expected of them. Ask these questions and you might realize it’s better to pay a little bit more in fee to pay for a firm that will 10x that margin in net sales price.

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DJ Johnston

Executive Vice President