The Price is High, But Manhattanites Are Buying It
As Brooklyn real estate got pricier and pricer in the ’00s, a greater number of Manhattanites moved here, according to an article in the Observer. IRS data shows that more than 3,700 Manhattan residents moved to Brooklyn in 2006 (the most recent year for which such stats are available), the most this decade. At the…
As Brooklyn real estate got pricier and pricer in the ’00s, a greater number of Manhattanites moved here, according to an article in the Observer. IRS data shows that more than 3,700 Manhattan residents moved to Brooklyn in 2006 (the most recent year for which such stats are available), the most this decade. At the same time, more than 10,000 Brooklynites have moved to either Staten Island or Queens every year since ’02. The point of the article is that while Brooklyn has continued to get more expensive (per Miller Samuel, median condo/co-op price in Manhattan in ’07=$850,000; per Corcoran, median price for a brownstone Brooklyn unit last year was $590,000) and the pricing gulf between the two has narrowed, moving to Brooklyn is no longer driven purely by economic necessity: “Perhaps it’s that Brooklyn has ceased to be simply another economic option for priced-out Manhattanites; instead, it’s now safer than ever to assume that moving to Brooklyn is more of a social or personal decision than an economic one. It will only become more so as real estate differences between the two melt away.”
Where Brooklyn Gets Its New Yorkers [NY Observer]
Graphic by Nigel Holmes for The Observer
oh, enough already with the Manhattan/Brooklyn thing.
Sounds so tired and provincial.
Well, sometimes the greatest art is made when there is something conservative and boring to rebel against, 1:25. I find the art in Brooklyn to be too youthful fashion-trendy and many people are too similar in what they’re doing. Plus to reach a certain level and make money as an artist you need to sell to the very wealthy. Any Brooklyn artist who is rejecting Manhattan and Manhattan residents outright is not very smart.
Manhattan has lost it’s soul.
Take it from somone who grew up in Brooklyn and still lives here – Brooklyn should never be compared with Manhattan. Brooklyn is a pleasant and charming place to live when you WORK in Manhattan everyday and want to LIVE in a quieter area. Nowadays. there’s even some nightlife and god restaurants. But Brooklyn still can’t compare with Manhattan in terms of all-around entertainment, nightlife, glitz factor, celebrity, excitement, etc. In these areas, Manhattan is the number one. Period.
Nor should Brooklyn seek to rival Manhattan. All of that “Manhattan” stuff is available right across the river – in Manhattan. The sooner we get all of these “Brooklyn is the new Manhattan!” types straightened out, the better. But increasingly, I fear that won’t ever happen, which is very unfortunate.
1:11, I was actually not referring to midtown at all, unless you are speaking of Times Square. I was referring to the West Village, Meatpacking district, Upper West Side, East Village…all once pretty cool areas which are now overrun with chains, tourists and the Jersey girls.
Manhattan has become a very sanitized version of a city. Very white and wealthy. It suits some people, but some of us like NYC for its diversity for it’s eccentricities and for it’s off the beaten path culture and arts.
More and more, those things can be found in Brooklyn in ever increasing numbers over Manhattan.
As someone who works very closely in the arts community, I can tell you that very few news ideas are presented in Manhattan. It’s the old guard orchestra crowd at the NY Phil, the opera diehards at the Met and the tourists at the Broadway shows.
You want to see what’s happening with the young arts community, go to see something at the Brooklyn Philharmonic, BAM, the Mark Morris Dance Company, Bargemusic, Union Hall, Galapagos, Southpaw, St. Anne’s, the Brooklyn Chamber Music Society, the art galleries filling up with Gowanus.
That is the next generation of NYC and really, don’t the arts play a significant role in the energy that keeps NYC buzzing? These young people and what they represent are part of the reason many of us moved here in the first place.
“Preferring Brooklyn over Manhattan means you are the kind of person who likes vintage over H&M, Magic Mountain over Disney World, Gorilla over Starfuckers, Mom and Pops over the Mall of America, and Maggie Gyllenhall over Mary Kate Olsen.”
Guess you’ve only ever been to Midtown. You should get out more.
There are neighborhoods and enclaves in Manhattan that are quiet and picturesque with small coffeeshops not big chains. And with houses older and more historic with larger rooms, higher ceilings, more airy and grand with huge windows. The Brooklyn brownstone is a certain aesthetic that is really great, we own one, love it and love Brooklyn. But if I had the money I’d totally take a house on the UES (boring is good — quiet on weekends and fewer tourists) or Greenwich Village near Washington Square Park.
I’ve always lived in Brooklyn, but had a chance to live in manhattan when i moved to nyc in 1990. I chose brooklyn, because it was closer to my job,but also because I loved the down-to-earth feel. I still appreciate many of the entertainment benefits of being near Manhattan and believe that every borough has something to offer (e.g. queens has great food, staten island has hiking, the bronx has the yankees). I try to view nyc as a whole, rather than becoming involved in the interborough warfare so commonly seen amongst manhattanites and brooklynites(which i know can be tempting and difficult to avoid).
I moved from York and 87th to Ft. Greene and my rent is more in Brooklyn. Happy to pay more for a neighborhood I really love.
“her brother takes it in the pooper.”
Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it. My gf loves it.