The Q at Parkside

(for those for whom the Parkside Q is their hometrain)

News and Nonsense from the Brooklyn neighborhood of Lefferts and environs, or more specifically a neighborhood once known as Melrose Park. Sometimes called Lefferts Gardens. Or Prospect-Lefferts Gardens. Or PLG. Or North Flatbush. Or Caledonia (west of Ocean). Or West Pigtown. Across From Park Slope. Under Crown Heights. Near Drummer's Grove. The Side of the Park With the McDonalds. Jackie Robinson Town. Home of Lefferts Manor. West Wingate. Near Kings County Hospital. Or if you're coming from the airport in taxi, maybe just Flatbush is best.

Thursday, June 12, 2014

More Real Estate Tidbits For Your Consideration

The Real Deal today reports that Douglas Elliman (or as I like to call him Doug E. Fresh) has once gain noted the rental price gains in Brooklyn. And once again, he's defined an area known as "Brownstone Brooklyn" in which Lefferts Gardens is the "cheapest" at $1,250/month for a studio apartment. In many an article that I've noticed, however, people have stopped noting that these figures are NOT for ALL of Brooklyn.

From the article (I'll follow with a bit of Q-analysis):

In Brooklyn, the median rental price in May was $2,800 per month, up 8.6% from $2,579 per month in May of 2013, according to the report.

Brooklyn’s most expensive apartments were two-bedrooms in Dumbo, which had a mean rental price of $5,321 per month, according to MNS’ May rental report, which was also released today. The least expensive apartments were studios in Prospect Lefferts Gardens, with a mean rental price of $1,250 per month.
“The shortage of new inventory in Manhattan (is) impacting Brooklyn,” said Andrew Barrocas, CEO of MNS. “I think the whole tech sector, having a big concentration in Brooklyn, has impacted the rental market and created a lot of demand for rental housing.”
But even as Brooklyn rental prices rose, Miller pointed out that they started to stabilize. Brooklyn’s median rental price of $2,800 per month was $500 less than Manhattan’s median rental price of $3,300 per month in May. In February, the difference was just $210.

In part, that’s thanks to new rental developments and more available inventory in Brooklyn. “There are more options for the consumer, therefore prices don’t rise as fast,” Luciane Serifovic, Elliman’s director of rentals, said. In the borough, inventory rose to 1,546 in May, up 57.3% from 983 a year earlier, according to the Elliman report.

Along with more inventory, landlords are easing up on concessions, according to Citi Habitats’ rental market report, also released today. In May, 7% of transactions included landlord concessions, down from 12% in March, according to the report.

“Landlords’ incentives during the last five months played a role in stabilizing pricing, as well as reducing vacancies,” Gary Malin, president of Citi Habits, said. “They created a sense of urgency for tenants to act where they weren’t acting before.”
"Malin said the numbers are likely to drop further. “Right now, given where vacancies are, the landlords put themselves in a strong position,” he said.
First off, Prospect Lefferts Gardens is NOT the cheapest by any stretch of a King County imagination. East Flatbush, Brownsville, East New York and probably Mill Basin, Flatlands and Sheepshead Bay are cheaper. Which means Doug E. only considers certain neighborhoods when making its analyses.

The last bit about increased inventory stabilizing prices is good news I suppose, particularly to the supply/demand folks who claim more luxury apartments make it cheaper than it would be otherwise. However, I'd like to point out one much overlooked fact. The single biggest way the borough has increased inventory (by the thousands) is by folks like Doug "deciding" that certain neighborhoods are okay for white folk to live in. When they (in concert with the media, notably the NY Times) declared Lefferts safe for white consumption, prices boomed. The demand out there is so intense that by saying it's okay to live there, prices can jump to the cheap rate of $1250 a month for a single room apartment.

I would argue that it is the declaration of neighborhoods as "hot" that adds to inventory, way more than new construction. And I'd add that the declaring of neighborhoods as "hot" creates unnatural desire on the part of the public to live in those neighborhoods, as opposed to Queens or Yonkers or god knows where.

Amazing.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Re: " When they (in concert with the media, notably the NY Times) declared Lefferts safe for white consumption, prices boomed. "

The New York Times is usually late in reporting on which is the trendiest neighborhood. By the time it jumps on the bandwagon, gentrification has usually been underway for a while.

Clarkson FlatBed said...

Right you are, DP. Though the old gray lady has been writing about us for some time now...

Clarkson FlatBed said...

I will note one interesting tidbit as well. When we first moved to the neighborhood, you couldn't BUY the NY Times anywhere.

Anonymous said...

Not surprised.

When I was a kid, one teacher wanted us to read articles form the Times for class. My parents had to make a special trip to find it because most of the newsstands around here didn't carry it.

As for now, who actually buys a hard copy of a newspaper anymore? ;)

babs said...

I, too, remember those Times-less days. Of course I always had my copy delivered (as I still do) - and was about the only person on my block to do so. I would argue that those blue plastic bags the paper comes in are pretty accurate indicators of gentrification - seems like there are more every day.

Bob Marvin said...

When I lived in Park Slope [1970–74], before moving here, I couldn't get the Times there either.

no_slappz said...

If Manhattan zoning regulations were changed -- in the Garment District, for example -- a large number of buildings could be converted to residential use and a lot of units could hit the market in a hurry, thereby reducing the incentive for moving to Brooklyn.

Meanwhile, East New York was a Jewish stronghold for a long time. However, that era ended in the late 60s.

Unknown said...
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Anonymous said...

"I suppose, particularly to the supply/demand folks who claim more luxury apartments make it cheaper than it would be otherwise." ...Thank you, thank you, thank you for that quote! I can't stand the simple mindedness of when folks state we need to allow more construction that will force prices lower. Yeah okay, its not the only thing that needs to be done and is trivializing the issue.

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