DNAinfo: Last Chance to Buy a Townhouse Under $1 Million
Anyone looking to buy a townhouse for under $1,000,000 will get the best bang for the buck in East Flatbush, although they should also check out Bushwick, Bed Stuy and PLG, a real estate agent advised us last night at dinner. Now this morning DNAinfo has a story saying the time is now to buy a recently renovated…
Anyone looking to buy a townhouse for under $1,000,000 will get the best bang for the buck in East Flatbush, although they should also check out Bushwick, Bed Stuy and PLG, a real estate agent advised us last night at dinner.
Now this morning DNAinfo has a story saying the time is now to buy a recently renovated townhouse in a “hot” neighborhood for under $1,000,000 — but those opportunities will soon be fading. The areas in question are Bed Stuy, Bushwick, Crown Heights and Prospect Lefferts Gardens.
“Soon” — it’s unclear exactly how soon — townhouse buyers will be priced out of those areas and relegated to Ocean Hill and East Flatbush, said the story, citing our own posts about recent record-setting sales in Crown Heights ($2,900,000) and Bed Stuy ($3,000,000).
The story also quoted a sales report out from the Real Estate Board of New York yesterday. In the fourth quarter, condos were up 13 percent and townhouses were up 17 percent throughout all of Brooklyn, vs the year earlier, said the report. The gains for townhouses in specific neighborhoods are nothing short of astonishing. Said DNA:
Bed Stuy one- to three-family homes, for example, sold for an average price of $887,000 in the fourth quarter of 2014, up 37 percent from the year before, according to a report released Tuesday from the Real Estate Board of New York. Crown Heights homes went for an average of $733,000, up 24 percent over the year. Bushwick homes averaged $633,000, up 35 percent, and Prospect Lefferts homes averaged $673,000, up 16 percent.
Soon the action will turn to condos, as a huge number of new condo buildings are set to launch in these areas, as we’ve reported previously. More specifically, Aptsandlofts.com alone is “representing 40 new buildings slated to open this year and next in areas like Bushwick, Bed Stuy and Crown Heights,” said DNA.
Another agent, Ban Leow of Halstead, recently told us he believes the market will continue to climb for another three years. What do you think?
Last Chance to Buy Townhouses Under $1 Million in “Hot” Brooklyn Areas, Many Say [DNA]
Q4 NYC Residential Sales Report [REBNY]
Bay Ridge – Clean, safe, good schools, ample services, under a million still possible.
I’m pretty sure articles like these will make it a self-fulfilling prophecy.
I wonder if the developers will ever unleash a large amount of 3-bedroom condos priced between $600-900,000. That would seem, to me, to be a sweet spot of the people with kids who want to stay in the city but need a little more space.
There are not really renovated, move-in ready Victorians under $1m in Kensington any more.
We looked in Kensington in 2014 and were priced out. Ended up in Flatbush.
Kensington doesn’t have brownstones but there are quite a few rows of limestone or brick houses. Check out Caton ave between E3rd and E5th, or Ocean Parkway near Church, or Ave C and Ocean Parkway, or E9th.
I agree that it’s relatively cheap, and Victorians can be great – basically like Ditmas Park but on slightly smaller lots.
As for bargains, Flatbush remains priced well under the surrounding neighborhoods, not only around Sears but also around Downstate, just south of PLG, and all the way down to Brooklyn College. Lots of row houses, 1920’s semi attached houses with garages, Victorians (Victorian Flatbush used to extend past Flatbush ave, check out Vanderveer Park micro neighborhood).
Also lots of once-fancy apartment houses of all sizes. I often wonder what the grandest apartment is (or was) like in a building like the Chateau Frontenac. or check out the facade on buildings like 2569 bedford ave. This was an middle- to upper-middle-class neighborhood at one point.
I know people who have in the past year bought as far east as Brooklyn Ave (10 min walk from 2/5) and also in the neighborhood to the southeast of Brooklyn College. There is also some interesting houses in Wingate, directly east of PLG, but even that area seems to be priced a bit higher than Flatbush and East Flatbush.
Thanks, it’s ok, it didn’t offend me. I just pictured young couples hoofing it out to PLG looking for these bargains only to be disappointed. The numbers are not legit as InvestorLou says. I myself would not have used those numbers to tell us anything about the market.
thirded! i love the houses in that area. I live north of it, on Lenox, but i frequently ride my bike around there and it has some of the cutest limestones in the area. many of the blocks are very intact and uniform, too. it’s just barely out of my price range now, but i hope other first time home buyers consider it!
I wonder of they filtered for things like putting your investment property into an LLC (very common), quit claim add or subtracting of ownership, etc.
Probably not. I don’t take these numbers as anything legitimate.
I’m not a RE agent but I’ll take a stab.
We are looking at another year of very low interest rates, this will keep the market vibrant through the year. There isn’t much except flatbush/east flatbush for under 1m if you want a house that gets you to Manhattan in less than 45 minutes. Low inventory, low rates, and rising rents will put pressure on buyers for at least a year; the following year (2nd) will have the same sort of feel despite interest rates (who knows where they will be then) because prices in those neighborhoods will have accelorated rise the same way they did in bed stuy, crown heights, etc.. There are already a number of developers putting in small lux condos along flatbush as far down as brooklyn college.
Year 3? Who knows. One of the hallmarks of gentrification is that the new owners demand greater amount of sq ft for living space. Brooklyn’s has been steadily rising since the 90’s; the population trends, and hot money don’t seem to be letting up.
Yes we saw that happen when the big condo buildings opened on 4th ave in Park Slope several years ago. Our old co-op apartment we sold did not increase in value over a period of 4 years – our buyers sold it for the same price for which they bought it. And yet if you ask NIMBYs opposed to new development and tall buildings they insist adding more apts and condos does not slow prices at all.