Small-Town-Like Features of Areas
Near Downtown Lure Foreign Buyers
By Harold Egeln
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
BROOKLYN — The British are coming! Not to fight but to buy! Is it true? Their and other foreigners’ city neighborhood of choice is in Brooklyn, according to a recent British newspaper report, and it's BoCoCa.
Say what? That's the catchall term — which hasn't really caught on — for the three distinctive neighborhoods of Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens.
A leading British newspaper, The Daily Telegraph, published an article about BoCoCa’s attraction to British and other foreign buyers, estimated to be about 30 to 40 percent of the current buyers by an unnamed broker. The attraction of the neighborhoods, the British report said, spurred by a favorable exchange rate of $2 for a pound, was their foreign-like residential housing, community safety and the British shopkeeper ambience.
“Manhattan is overhyped, overpriced and just plain over. BoCoCa is the new place to be — and to buy,” declared the British newspaper. Sounds great. But is a British buyers invasion really underway?
The alleged new wave of British and foreign investment as told in The Daily Telegraph, was referred to yesterday's Brooklyn Daily Eagle's Real Estate Roundup by Sarah Ryley. From the Telegraph's article she quoted, “For many well-to-do immigrants, finding the New York they envisioned on the plane coming over here means moving to Brooklyn.” Not bad at all, Brooklyn.
“I've actually been dealing with quite a few Britons who are looking to purchase townhouses,” said Toni D'Andrea of Craig Realty. “Yes, there has been interest by people from England.” However, the percentage of buyers mentioned by the British article could not be confirmed.
One Irish woman, she noted, is interesting in a purchase in Kensington, just outside the BoCoCa region but within the orbit of intense Downtown Brooklyn development, acting like a magnet for foreign real estate buyers.
“I haven't heard anything about it. Nothing at all," said Vinny DiMartino of Brownstone Listings, talking about the reported British and foreign swings” into BoCoCa.
No way are the British are coming in great numbers as reported by the Telegraph to BoCoCa, said Tim King of Massey Knakal. “This article came from some reporter at a London-based newspaper about the alleged ‘30-40 percent’ figure. Mark Twain said that there are three kinds of lies, one being statistics. It’s a fine newspaper, but its figures don't sound right.
“We should know. Massey Knakal not only takes the pulse of Brooklyn real estate, but the stethoscope of its heart.”
The three neighborhoods’ attraction to foreign buyers would be understandable, given their “low-altitude architecture” and “a sense of community,” said Terry Naini, vice president, Prudential Douglas Elliman, quoted in yesterday’s Real Estate Round-Up.
A high interest in the three Downtown Brooklyn neighborhoods is not really news, but is part of the city's fabric, said a Brooklyn realty leader.
“The British have long been one of the largest foreign investors in the city, so it comes as no surprise for what’s happening in those neighborhoods,” said Kathy McCall, president of the Brooklyn Board of Realtors, with Velsor Realty in Bay Ridge.
“It's a hot neighborhood. The market there is going crazy,” said Basil Capetanakis of 14 Apollo Real Estate in Bay Ridge. “There's a tremendous increase in values. The Atlantic Yards project is making it a hot neighborhood, thanks to the work of Marty Markowitz.” Within the past year, Markowitz went to London and England to urge more British investment and tourism in Brooklyn.
“Price constraints aside, Manhattan just isn’t the same place anymore,” said British newspaper article. “It is easy to see why many an English ex-pat would prefer living here [in Brooklyn] to being filed away in the vast anonymous ziggurat that is a typical Manhattan apartment block.”
Are the British coming to “BoCoCa” in large numbers as buyers? If so, a modern-day Paul Revere may ride, not to warn us, but to tell us the latest in real estate news involving this purported “British invasion”, as yet unconfirmed.
© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2007
All materials posted on BrooklynEagle.com are protected by United States copyright law.
Just a reminder, though -- It’s not considered polite to paste the entire story on your blog. Most blogs post a summary or the first paragraph,( 40 words) then post a link to the rest of the story. That helps increase click-throughs for everyone, and minimizes copyright issues.
So please keep posting, but not the entire article. arturc at att.net
Main Office 718 422 7400
