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September 17, 2008

First Time Buyers Head Far Out in Brooklyn

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The median sales price in Brooklyn is $525,000. So where can you snag homes below the median? The New York Observer reports that of the 3,766 homes under that price this year, almost half sit in Sheepshead Bay, Kensington, Flatbush, Gravesend, East New York, Clinton Hill, Bay Ridge, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Williamsburg and Park Slope (where are the Park Slope homes under $525,000?). In Sheepshead Bay, the buyers are apparently Asian, Russian and Turkish. "The newish condos have brought in a high number of B-train-riding Manhattan commuters," they report, who "have transitioned smoothly into the neighborhood, once a predominately Italian and Irish community." Kensington, too, has seen an influx of commuter residents, as has Ditmas Park (and price increases to go with them), but those interviewed didn't seem to think East New York or Flatbush would be the next version of those neighborhoods. "According to Brooklyn-based broker Jeff Grandis," they write, "the sour economy 'has really slowed things down.'”
Where the Bobos Now Buy in Brooklyn [NY Observer]
East 14th St. Photo by Lisanne!




Posted by lisa at 9:29 AM | Comments (10)
Categories: Sales

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Comments

You'd have to be insane to buy a house in East NewYork right now. A bank would also have to be insane to lend on a house there.

Posted by: Atlantic Frantic at September 17, 2008 9:38 AM

Clinton Hill also seems like it doesn't belong on that list. Houses for less than a half-mil? I think that "Clinton Hill" is actually the Stuy.

Posted by: amt230 at September 17, 2008 10:15 AM

they must be including condos/coops, so brownstone sales are considered on par with the purchase of a 400 sf studio.

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at September 17, 2008 10:19 AM

The Observer's headline betrays the ignorance that seeps into much of their reporting about Brooklyn: "Take the B train to savings! Sheepshead Bay, Bay Ridge, Kensington"

Only one of those neighborhoods is even on the B.

That paper has gone precipitously downhill.

Posted by: Frederick Law Homestead at September 17, 2008 10:25 AM

Parts of the Observer article are very poorly written. To compare the rise of Ditmas Park, with its one million dollar plus single family homes, to ENY and Flatbush, is misleading and a poor comparison. It's apples and oranges. Those interested in Ditmas, with their large homes that take large money to restore and keep up, are very different buyers from those seeking starter homes in ENY. To compare them in a news article makes no sense.

Atlantic Frantic doesn't know what he/she is talking about, either. A young, two income family looking for a new house for a reasonable amount of money (for NYC)has few alternatives but the outer reaches of the boroughs. Along with arriving immigrants, these buyers are qualifying for mortgages, so any bank lending them is making a good investment. The same criteria that apply to the Ditmas buyer applies to the ENY buyer. If they can afford it, a mortgage to them is no riskier than any other.

My issues with living in the hinterlands of Brooklyn have more to do with transportation and infrastructure, rather than neighborhood snobbery. More and more people are immigrating here, or starting families here. They all have to live somewhere, and the new construction in these areas gives them the opportunity. Maybe not a Brownstoner reader's cup of tea, but a viable, and sound investment, none the less.

Posted by: Montrose Morris at September 17, 2008 10:28 AM

"The buyers are Asian, Russian, and Turkish" - typical Observer stupidity: Sheepshead Bay is already full of those ethnicities. "White liberals are moving to places like Park Slope and Carroll Gardens and reportedly transitioning smoothly."

I mention Brownstoner to people; usually they go "huh?" Brooklyn in large swaths remains a no-man's-land to many, despite this blog and other easy references otherwise. To expect the Observer, which publishes stories about how glam Midtow hotel bars are, to visit Sheepshead or Kensington and dig it is asking too much. The Manhattan crowd te Observer thinks it's addressing will never move to Kensington and live next door to Pakistanis and Orthodox Jews wih 8 kids; they want to be with "their own". Fuck them.

Posted by: infinitejester at September 17, 2008 10:47 AM

Nice job Observer, since Ms. Seltzer actually lives in Windsor Terrace!

Posted by: Windsor Terror at September 17, 2008 10:50 AM

Can someone point to me where in Clinton Hill, Williamsburg or park Slope I can find a home for less then 1 Million dollars. Trust me I've been looking.

Posted by: Brooklyns_da_Boro at September 17, 2008 11:38 AM

I can tell you that there aren't any houses in Bay Ridge for 525K...595, yes, a cute one family attached brick, 3-bed, 1 bath, needs work. I'm not a broker, just pointing out that there are some bargains out there.

Posted by: bayridgegirl at September 17, 2008 12:29 PM

Brooklyns_da_Boro - The key word is "home" and not "house."

Posted by: SnarkSlope at September 17, 2008 1:15 PM

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