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Downtown Brooklyn’s housing boom isn’t letting up – but how much new residential construction is too much? Anyone who passes through the Flatbush and Atlantic Avenue corridors has seen the changes; not just the buildings growing skyward, but also the increased foot and car traffic.
“It’s like everywhere you turn there’s a new building,” says Suzanne DeBrango, an agent at Halstead in Boerum Hill. “If you travel down Atlantic, you can’t make right turns at all, there’s so much construction. Brooklyn is becoming Manhattan.” Most of the developments are luxury rentals, DeBrango says, while a small number are condos.
New Towers...No Renters?
In recent months, three new towers have opened – and according to the New York Times, all are facing challenges leasing (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/03/r...hland-hub.html). They include The Ashland at 250 Ashland Place, 300 Ashland, and the Hub at 333 Schermerhorn Street. And that’s not including the handful of apartment towers that have already opened in the past few years, plus those in the pipeline, including 9 Dekalb Ave., a 73-story building that will be the tallest in Brooklyn, and was approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission in 2016.
The glut of rentals is pushing prices down and forcing landlords to offer freebies and perks, from free months on 12-month leases to no-fee rentals. According to rental listings on StreetEasy, out of 233 apartments for rent in Downtown Brooklyn, 186 are no-fee.
According to DeBrango, one portion of the market that shouldn’t be too negatively impacted is the temporary sublet market. Short-term sublets are generally offered by condo and co-op owners, she says, and “There’s always a market for sublets and especially short-term sublets. [For] a lot of these condo and co-op owners, I don’t see it [as a problem]. I see the influx of these huge developments as more of an impact on the regular rental market.”
But DeBrango also says rentals across the board will be affected, because they just can’t offer what the new developments can. “Homeowners who have had [rentals] for years don’t have the modern amenities, and [the apartment] might be a little worn,” she says. “For renters … if you can get a doorman, a workout room, whatever, in the building, and then you show them a brownstone that doesn’t have all that, well...”
And where will the effect of the glut of rentals be felt? In the wallet, of course. DeBrango says it took almost a year to find a renter for a one-bedroom parlor floor rental in a brownstone building with outdoor space in Boerum Hill. The apartment used to rent for $3,000 and the price has since dropped to $2,500.
This is a great thing and it's how the market is supposed to work. Proves adding inventory in core areas slows gentrification down in farther out neighborhoods. Am I really supposed to feel sorry that the landlord can't rent the brownstone one-bedroom for $3,000/mo? Rather, I'm more inclined to empathize with the folks who previously lived in the apartment who were likely priced out by his/her greed. Squeezing every possible nickel and dime out of residents is just unsustainable.
And whoever wrote that article is an idiot. A no fee is not a rental concession.
^ The market in a year or two will decide if the rents get hiked up or not.
Been saying this for years but people here keep arguing with me. Supply versus demand. You must allow development to happen in order to keep housing costs from rising too much across the city.
i don't buy it - people are flocking to areas like Bed-Stuy which offers the kind of neighborhood that people are looking for and also has much lower prices than places like Park Slope or Carroll Gardens. There are many remodeled brownstone apartments in the neighborhood if that's what you are looking for. Who wants to pay more for amenities like a gym or common roof deck when you can have a gym membership at Blink for $15 a month or a private/ semi-private garden? I don't see prices dropping much for brownstone apartments in Bed-Stuy or Crown Heights
I'm not understanding this article. The people that can afford the prices of those rentals downtown are not the same clients that would live in a brownstone apartment in bed stuy/parkslope/bushwick. Brownstone apartments are always considerably cheaper than new development buildings with anemities. 1 bedroom for $3000 even in boruem hill is overpriced when new development is basically around the same price. Market is leveling itself out in certain areas, there will no more dramatic increases in rent. Well until they raise minimum wage to $15.
There is still a problem with affordable housing, the luxury end will get relief but people still can't afford those prices
^ The market is not monolithic. There are people interested in brownstones, there are people interested in new buildings, there are people interested in walkups, and so on.
What new development does, is that it creates new housing options, so that those who are interested in new buildings can get into one and that the cost is not too prohibited. If you put a limit on new development, new buildings get expensive and some of the folks that like new buildings are priced out so they seek other forms of housing in cheaper neighborhoods, thus driving up prices there too.
I know you'll reply and argue because you don't understand but want to argue anyway.
And BTW, some of you are probably wondering why you aren't seeing prices drop where you are.
It takes time to work its way throughout the market. And depending on how much more new apartment glut there is, it can get a lot cheaper or not. If developers pull back and do not build, then the glut will dissipate and the price drop will be minimal.
That's why you want to encourage more new developments in areas of the city that people want to be and also where there is mass transit, i.e. Manhattan and the places in the outer boroughs that are close to Manhattan, i.e. DT Brooklyn, Williamsburg, LIC, South Bronx, etc.
And BTW, some of you are probably wondering why you aren't seeing prices drop where you are.
It takes time to work its way throughout the market. And depending on how much more new apartment glut there is, it can get a lot cheaper or not. If developers pull back and do not build, then the glut will dissipate and the price drop will be minimal.
That's why you want to encourage more new developments in areas of the city that people want to be and also where there is mass transit, i.e. Manhattan and the places in the outer boroughs that are close to Manhattan, i.e. DT Brooklyn, Williamsburg, LIC, South Bronx, etc.
It makes sense....Manhattan could use a couple more 100 story residential buildings.
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"The man who sleeps on the floor, can never fall out of bed." -Martin Lawrence
i don't buy it - people are flocking to areas like Bed-Stuy which offers the kind of neighborhood that people are looking for and also has much lower prices than places like Park Slope or Carroll Gardens. There are many remodeled brownstone apartments in the neighborhood if that's what you are looking for. Who wants to pay more for amenities like a gym or common roof deck when you can have a gym membership at Blink for $15 a month or a private/ semi-private garden? I don't see prices dropping much for brownstone apartments in Bed-Stuy or Crown Heights
I don't need a gym or roofdeck but some people wouldn't want to Brownstone it, especially if they have kids. Too many stairs. They have to carry the baby, the stroller, the toddler, the groceries, etc.
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