Well now we’ve really gone and done it: according to DNA Info, real estate prices in Manhattan are now lower than those in Brooklyn. Not everywhere, of course. That would just be ridiculous. But some realtors are saying that the numbers that once priced young artists and creative types out of Manhattan have the potential to create a reverse trend that will find former residents of expensive Brooklyn neighborhoods migrating to areas like the Upper East Side and Harlem.
Predictably, the neighborhoods most affected are Williamsburg and DUMBO, where rent increased in 2012 at a rate higher than it has in past years, and still continues to increase. Part of the problem is that most of the turnover is in those bourgie luxury high-rises that no one could really afford in the first place, leaving those spots empty while longer-term residents cling on to the more affordable housing for dear life.
But we’re not so sure if this trend will stick. Going from Williamsburg to Harlem would be a pretty big stretch, especially for residents who based their social lives and livelihoods in Brooklyn, but it’s a stretch that isn’t nearly as outrageous as the ones faced by active longtime residents of Brooklyn communities who are being steadily priced out of the homes they’ve lived in for decades, like in the sad story of Cecilia Maniero Cacace.
As newer Brooklyn residents struggle to adapt to the idea of being ping-ponged between boroughs, realtors in Manhattan seem somewhat indignant at the suggestion of this trend, as they had perhaps jumped too soon to the conclusion that Manhattan had finally ridded itself of all those pesky broke freelancers. But this assumption seems to be increasingly untrue, as evidenced by the most bizarro-world quote of the day: “I have more space and pay less,” said Alex Baker of his apartment in Manhattan.