Here's How Much Crown, Prospect Heights' Rent Prices Fell In 2020

PROSPECT HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — Renters looking to move to Prospect Heights will pay a whopping 18 percent less per month than they would have last year thanks to plummeting prices amid the coronavirus pandemic, a new study found.

The neighborhood saw its median rent price drop 17.8 percent between November 2019 and 2020, according to the StreetEasy's November 2020 Market Reports, which found that rents across New York City have fallen more this year than they did during the Great Recession.

Rents in Crown Heights also fell, by about 10 percent, during the year.

The dips were among the larger price drops in Brooklyn, where collectively rents dropped 6.3 percent year over year in the borough. In the 2008 financial crisis rents in Brooklyn fell by around 5 percent.

“We expected the rental market to match the weakness seen during the Great Recession, but the fact that the market has surpassed that level in less than one year shows how serious the crisis caused by the pandemic has been,” StreetEasy Economist Nancy Wu said in the report.

The drop brought Crown Heights' median rent price to $2,250 and Prospect Heights' to $2,650.

The largest rent dips in Brooklyn were found in the most expensive neighborhoods, the report found. Brooklyn Heights' median rent fell a whopping 22.9 percent, the largest drop in the borough.

Northwest Brooklyn as a whole — which includes Brooklyn Heights and stretches from Clinton Hill to Carroll Gardens along the waterfront — fell 5.1 percent. The median asking rent in that area, now at $2,800, is the lowest it's been in eight years, according to the report.

The study also looked at the number of rental units up for grabs, which skyrocketed amid the price drops.

In Brooklyn, there were 21,670 rentals on the market in November, an increase of 134% from last year.

Still, Brooklyn's price drops were not as drastic as those in Manhattan, where the overall median rent dropped 12.7 percent year over year. In November 2020, the median asking rent in Manhattan reached a 10-year low of $2,800.

Read the full StreetEasy report here.