Brownstoner 2009 Survey Results
We’ve owed you some results since we ran our latest reader survey a couple of weeks ago. Basically, there was very little difference between the results of the recent survey and the one we conducted back in 2007, but it’s still fun to look at. – 45% have been reading since before 2007 …
We’ve owed you some results since we ran our latest reader survey a couple of weeks ago. Basically, there was very little difference between the results of the recent survey and the one we conducted back in 2007, but it’s still fun to look at.
– 45% have been reading since before 2007
– 80% check the site at least once a day
– 45% check the site several times a day or more
– Male/female split was exactly 50/50
– 46% are in their 30s, 25% are in their 40s
– More than 95% have a college degree or higher
– Bankers and lawyers were the two highest-represented professions
– More than 60% work in Manhattan
– 70% make at least $100,000 per year
– 90% live in Brooklyn, 4% in Manhattan
– 20% of Brooklyn dwellers in Park Slope
– 59% own their own place: 53% houses, 26% co-ops, 21% condos
– 50% of renters planning to buy within next two years
– 74% of owners have fixed rate mortgages, 11% have none at all
– 30% think the Brooklyn market has already bottomed
– 50% think the market will bottom at some point in the next year
– Park Slope most favored nabe for investment over next 3-5 years
– 58% of home owners spend at least $2,500 a year on upkeep
– 49% would be willing to pay a premium for LEED certified construction
– 53% of readers have used the Forum in the past year to find a contractor
– 55% own a car
– 55% are childless, 22% have just one child, 23% have two or more
– 59% of readers with school-age children send them to public school
– 74% go out to dinner at least 3 times a month
– 35% order take-out at least 10 times a month
– 50% have used the Restaurants section to find a restaurant
– 72% have a Facebook account, 24% have a Twitter account
We’ll drop some more detailed graphics on you over the coming weeks.
RE: Ditmas Park – you would be surprised how many people in Westchester read the NYT real estate section and New York Magazine. I’m always ready to draw a map when people ask me where I’ve come from – and I never have to! They say, oh the place with all those big Victorians…
I live in Clinton Hill but picked Bed Stuy as the neighb with greatest investment upside.
I think Prospect Heights and Boreum Hill are excellent investments (even though both are quite expensive).
Also Gowanus has a ton of potential in my mind…
Downtown Brooklyn is probably a pretty good mid term investment as well. Once those buildings fill up (which they eventually will) the demand for new retail, restaurants and everything else will follow and create a much more thriving downtown core. In my opinion.
Re: Park Slope is most favored for investment in near term. There is a selection bias here. If Park Slope is most represented in the survey then it makes sense that owners there would wish to think that their investment is the best compared to others. It would be interesting to see how many people thought that their neighborhood was the best investment vs. people that thought another neighborhood is a better investment.
“It surprises me that Park Slope is most favored for investment in near term. It won’t go down as much as some areas, but much of the potential is already tapped out.”
Share your surprise, mopar. A good investment entails getting in on the ground floor, not when it’s fully priced. Personally I think SS/GH/WT are better investments, meaning long-term capital appreciation potential. And I think a number of recent sales at levels that have surprised many bear this out.
It surprises me that Park Slope is most favored for investment in near term. It won’t go down as much as some areas, but much of the potential is already tapped out.
I’ll let you in on a secret: Buy in Bushwick. It is very rapidly turning into Williamsburg. Oops, my apologies to those who already live there and wish it weren’t. I am talking to people who want to buy houses to live in, NOT developers. No one wants your tacky condos.
Park Slope, Brooklyn Heights, and Bed Stuy are among those neighborhoods blessed with particularly beautiful architecture, so it stands to reason that people who care about their surroundings might live there. Park Slope was also settled by the original brownstoners and became very expensive. That could breed an obsession about real estate — the “it’s lovely and you can’t have it” kind of obsession that I am very familiar with, having grown up with my nose pressed against the glass of million-dollar homes like the little match girl.
Denton,
that is exactly what Brownstoner wrote(about 100k+)..but I claimed it was misrepresenting the actual survey…..And I’m surprised he hasn’t retracted yet….BEcause survey asked for Household income and he has in error interpreted as individual income.
MM,
Park Slope comes in farther ahead of other Brownstoner ‘hoods because larger geographic area and more people. I would think Boerum Hill, CarGard, Boerum Hill added together (and in my opinion really 1 neighborhood anyway) total population and area may approach that of PSlope
MM, the 35 respondents are only as follows. 35 represents the numbers of stoners with no college.
Interestingly, half of those with no college degrees make $100K or more and 62% own. And 43% of them are 40 or older. The sample size is only 35 though.
Posted by: brownstoner at October 29, 2009 10:28 AM