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As has been well documented in the media for a few years now, the weak dollar has drawn droves of foreigners to Manhattan’s residential real estate market. The trend hasn’t been as pronounced in Brooklyn, though an article in this month’s Real Deal says that’s rapidly changing. “The pace of the interest by foreign buyers in the outer boroughs is probably double or more than it was a few years ago,” said Jonathan Miller, CEO of real estate appraisal company Miller Samuel. In particular, brokers say many overseas buyers are snapping up Brooklyn brownstones as investment properties and then renting out units or trying to flip them. The one Achilles Heel Brooklyn has in terms of foreign buyer interest is the dearth of new condo development in the borough’s toniest neighborhoods, such as Brooklyn Heights. On the other hand, the story also makes mention of a recent article in the U.K.’s Daily Telegraph telling readers that Brooklyn home values are sure to increase, especially as massive waterfront condos are finished. “The scale of these projects is so great that some analysts predict that this region of Brooklyn will become a second Manhattan, giving prices a further boost,” said the Telegraph story. First Carrie and her crew, now the foreigners—what’s next?
Foreigners Crossing Pond and the River to Brooklyn [TRD]
Photo by Vipal


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  1. “Brooklyn home values are sure to increase, especially as massive waterfront condos are finished.”

    I’m still fascinated by this economic theory that increasing the supply of a commodity causes its price to rise.

  2. 10:07 is correct as well. I’ve got a lot of European colleagues as well who buy property elsewhere in the world. They may be interested in Manhattan condos but beyond that all you’ll hear about are the trophy upper east side townhouses and floor in The Plaza.

    Don’t worry all you xenophobes, they are not coming to a neighborhood near you. If they did, it would be an upgrade and they are not interested in being gentrification leaders.

  3. This is really wishful thinking. There will always be europeans who move to Brooklyn to live, but the jet set who buys million dollar properties as pure investments/second homes are NOT interested in buying outside of Manhattan.

    I work for a European bank. My colleagues who have substantial Euro assets read the papers. They know we are in a recession. They also know that they can’t buy co-ops as investment properties, which basically confines them to townhouses and condos in fringe neighborhoods. None of them are interested in making a $3 to 4 million dollar play on the Park Slope/Brooklyn Heights townhouse market. And they certainly aren’t buying for investment in the “newer” neighborhoods that are almost certainly going to be hit hard by this.

  4. 9:46…I agree….IF YOU DON”T WANT FOREIGNERS TO BUY YOUR PROPERTY THEN DON”T SELL IT TO THEM!!!! Otherwise we should toast the outside money pouring into the neighborhoods.

    Only an American though, can open a beer bottle with a chain saw!!!!

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