Bed-Stuy Leads Brooklyn Real Estate Market in Sales Growth

Bedford-Stuyvesant tops the list of Brooklyn’s most active neighborhoods, with the greatest growth in commercial property sales and the most significant uptick in financing this year.

From November 2013 through October 2014, financing for properties in northern Bed-Stuy (zip code 11206) jumped nearly 500 percent, with 58 properties financed in the first quarter compared to 340 in the fourth.

In the neighborhood’s 11221 zip code, extending from Tompkins Avenue to Wilson Avenue, 66 property-financing deals were made at the beginning of the year, compared to 384 from August to October.

Jonathan Ingber, Actovia’s founder, attributes increased interest in Bed-Stuy to rising costs in Manhattan.

“There is no question that Manhattan is priced out,” Ingber said, adding that people began scouting other boroughs in mid-2013 to find areas that offer the same sort of “luxury.”

“As people started developing in downtown Brooklyn, prices became pretty outrageous there too, so they looked at some centers that would be the next up-and-coming jewel,” he said.

Bed-Stuy also led the Brooklyn market for the greatest growth in property sales, followed by Greenpoint, Williamsburg and Brownsville, according to the report.

“Neighborhoods seriously rejected over the years — some deemed as really rough neighborhoods — have become really popular over the past year with developments,” Ingber said.

“The whole trend of people looking for the next big thing, where they can build and make an area where families and others want to live, that’s what we see.”