brownstone street

This weekend The New York Times real estate section looked at people who are finding themselves priced out of Brooklyn. No doubt this has been going on for ages, but the story points to some pricing trends that show that real estate in Brooklyn, or at least in the most expensive north and western neighborhoods (from Red Hook north to Greenpoint and Gowanus and Park Slope) is quickly accelerating towards Manhattan pricing, particularly since the financial crisis in 2008.

According to the story, in the second quarter of this year there were 107 sales over $2 million in these neighborhoods, more than any other quarter. Since 2008 the median sales price has inched 33 percent closer to the median sales price in Manhattan–now $575,000 in Brooklyn versus $910,000 in Manhattan. Five years ago median rental price in these parts of Brooklyn was $1,030 cheaper than in Manhattan. Now it is only $353 cheaper.

These trends helped push out the residents that the Times profiled, all of whom wanted to stay and none of whom could afford an apartment they could live with. One couple fled to Jersey City, another wound up in Sunnyside, Queens and one person bought in East Harlem.

One broker told the Times, “For normal, middle-class people with good credit, we used to be able to say, ‘We can find you something.’ ” Now, even in once working-class areas like Windsor Terrace, Kensington, Crown Heights and Bedford-Stuyvesant, she said, “people are priced out of purchasing and landlords are asking egregious numbers.”

Just this weekend, well-known street artist Shepard Fairey told the New York Post that New York’s high rents and lack of affordable studio space is taking a toll on the city’s cultural scene and that many artists are leaving for Los Angeles. He said, “You can’t be in New York and not have ­either a trust fund or a good enough job to live. The reason why LA is becoming a hub is because LA still has affordable spaces for artists to have studios. New York was a hub for so long [because] high-low culture, high-low economics co-mingled very fluidly for years.”

One person who moved to Carroll Gardens in 2001 and is leaving for East Harlem had a similar lament as our reader who posted last week about what she misses about the Brooklyn she once enjoyed. He told the Times, “Carroll Gardens used to be a place in the summertime where you could get an Italian ice at one of so many pizza places. Now people go to 16 Handles,” he said referring to a self-serve frozen yogurt chain that replaced a local joint named Joe’s Luncheonette. “It’s a different group of families,” he continued. “It’s families that want the 16 Handles and not to talk to Sal.”

Life After Brooklyn [NY Times]
‘Screwed’ New York Artists are Moving to Los Angeles [NY Post]
What I Miss About Brooklyn [Brownstoner]

Photo: Jay Woodworth


What's Your Take? Leave a Comment

  1. Fair point. And there’s always a part of me that will love the non-yuppified part of Brooklyn. That’s where I was raised (in brownstone Bed Stuy, back when it was a “rough” area). But, now with others to take care of, I’m glad I live where I do today. I hope that other “rough” and “uncool” areas become the next “it” areas soon.

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