Brooklyn to Overtake Chicago in Population?

Brooklyn is now so popular that its population is growing at a rate of 2.4 percent, more than any other New York City borough, according to Real Estate Weekly. If the growth continues at that pace, Brooklyn will overtake Chicago as the third largest city (if it were a separate city) sometime in the next 12 years. Then again, Chicago is growing at the slowest rate of all the large metro areas in the U.S., according to the Census. “For the first time since before 1950, more people are coming to New York City than leaving,” said Mayor Bloomberg. Demand is causing real estate prices to boom, and in turn, new construction may be helping to draw new residents into the borough. “In 2012, investment sales were $4 billion, a 106 percent jump over the year prior…The dollar value for commercial transactional jumped 383 percent from 2011, while office product rose 314 percent,” said the story. Meanwhile, as readers of this blog already know, “apartment prices in prime Brooklyn neighborhoods are now fast approaching $1,000 per square foot, comparable in cost to Manhattan.” Median rents increased 7.2 percent to $2,590 in February, according to the most recent Elliman Report. The last year may be seen “as a turning point for Brooklyn real estate,” according to Jonathan Berman, vice president of Ariel Property Advisors, citing high volume and the debut of several large developments, including Barclays Center. Certainly there have been no lack of media stories about the Brooklyn phenomenon. “During the ’70s, Brooklyn lost nearly one out of every seven residents, today it’s a different story,” the story quoted Borough President Marty Markowitz as saying. “For those of us old-school Brooklynites who never gave up on Brooklyn, it has been incredible to see the world catch up with us.” Do you think the growth is sustainable? Or will Brooklyn fall out of fashion again?
World Catching up to Brooklyn [Real Estate Weekly]