How Affordable Is Ditmas Park?

The real estate website Zumper recently crunched numbers for median rents in January in neighborhoods throughout Brooklyn and Manhattan, as noted by Curbed, and while they don’t single out Ditmas Park, the new map shows that Flatbush, with a median rent for a one bedroom hovering around $1,530, remains more affordable than our neighbors in Kensington and Windsor Terrace but more expensive than areas like Sunset Park and Flatlands.

Of course, we frequently see one bedrooms listed for more than $1,530 in our neck of the woods, and we know rents have been skyrocketing for some of our neighbors (such as this neighbor, whose rent jumped by $430 each month to $1,550 for a studio near Newkirk Plaza) – but it’s still interesting to see the breakdown of the various neighborhoods. According to the maps published by Zumper, Brooklyn’s most expensive area was Dumbo, which, at a median rent of $4,000 for a one bedroom place, was the second priciest neighborhood in all of New York City, following Tribeca’s $4,150.

Following Dumbo, our borough’s most expensive neighborhoods (based on the median rent for a one bedroom apartment) were: Vinegar Hill ($3,600), Williamsburg ($3,100), Downtown Brooklyn ($3,090), and Cobble Hill ($3,000).

As for the least expensive? Of the neighborhoods mapped by Zumper (which leaves out many of our neighbors to the south), Canarsie rang in at the most affordable with $1,290; and Sunset Park and Flatlands tied for the second least expensive neighborhoods, having a median rent of $1,350. East Flatbush’s average was $1,500 and Brownsville came in at $1,600.

What do you think of these numbers? We’d like to start compiling what rents people are paying in our neighborhood – and by how much those rents have increased in, say, the past five years. If you have a minute, we’d love it if you could let us know what you’re paying now and what kinds of increases you’ve seen. You can comment below or email us at editor@ditmasparkcorner.com.