A 9-to-5 nabe no more — Downtown Brooklyn is cementing itself as a residential powerhouse.
The neighborhood broke its own housing record in the last calendar year, with a total of 4,421 new residential units completed in 2025.
The data comes from the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership’s real estate team, which uses a combination of city and brokerage data. The banner year’s results towered 51% above the previous record, set with 2,925 new units in 2022.
A major rezoning and tax incentives have transformed Downtown Brooklyn over two decades. Paul Martinka
Ample retailers and subway access is drawing families to the area. Paul Martinka
“I think the phenomenal success of downtown Brooklyn is that it’s fully evolved into a mixed-use neighborhood, and people really realize how great a location it is and a great neighborhood to live in,” Regina Meyer, president at the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, told The Post. “I think the other thing is you can’t ignore the regulatory framework.”
Downtown Brooklyn’s ability to support large-scale projects was helped along in recent years by a 2004 rezoning effort and attractive tax incentives for developers.
The neighborhood’s very own supertall, the Brooklyn Tower, found conditions favorable enough to list its $16.75 million penthouse in December.
Recently completed residential projects include the 1,098-unit Rocklyn at 20 Rockwell Place and the 569-unit Everly at 180 Ashland Place.
The 620-foot tower 11 Hoyt numbers among the area’s recent rash of luxury developments. Binyan Studios
The centrally located residences at the Brook welcomed tenants over the summer. Helayne Seidman
The Brook, a 591-unit luxury rental tower at the corner of Fulton and Flatbush, wrapped up construction late last year. The project developed by Witkoff Group and Apollo Global Management welcomed its first residents last July.
Hiro Sato, senior vice president of development at Witkoff, told The Post the tower has enjoyed “a very busy summer and fall.”
“Everyone knew that this is a great development site, and we’re very excited that we were able to unlock the potential here,” Sato said, noting the location’s proximity to multiple subway lines, parks and retail hubs. The Brook will host its own local hotspot in the form of Din Tai Fung, the prominent Taiwanese soup dumpling purveyor that made its New York debut in 2024.
The historic Brooklyn Paramount reopened in 2024. Christopher Sadowski
The City Point shopping center draws in heavy foot traffic. Stefano Giovannini
Major subway hubs like Jay Street-Metrotech attract commuters to the neighborhood. Robert Mecea
Downtown Brooklyn has enjoyed continued popularity despite scathing critiques of its rapidly expanding skyline, which Curbed recently dubbed “a showcase of millennial architectural mediocrity.”
Ample supply is eclipsing aesthetic concerns, is appears. Downtown Brooklyn ranked sixth on StreetEasy’s “Neighborhoods Watch” round-up for 2026, racking up a 44.3% spike in searches on the popular real estate platform in 2025.
This was the second time the neighborhood has appeared in the rankings over the past decade, having previously taken the top spot in 2019.
Availability and convenience is the name of the game, Amanda Shur, StreetEasy’s home trends expert, told The Post.
“I think that the big takeaway here is that a lot of New Yorkers are looking where there’s availability, and these new developments are really helping to increase options in these areas,” Shur said. “That’s attracting a lot of buyers and renters, and you really can’t beat the convenience if you’re looking to commute to FiDi, or maybe even if your office is in downtown Brooklyn itself.”
The neighborhood charted a modest annual rise in median asking rent in 2025, reaching $4,448, according to the platform. Asking prices saw a slight dip down to a median of $1.15 million.
The new year includes 11 projects under construction and 26 in the pipeline. Stefano Giovannini
Shur noted that StreetEasy’s snapshot of largely market rate listings doesn’t capture the neighborhood’s growing affordable housing stock.
Downtown Brooklyn’s zoning requires a portion of affordable housing in every new development, allowing the area to add more than 6,000 new affordable homes over the past decade — 1,308 of those came in the first half of 2025.
The year ahead looks just as busy, with 11 projects under construction and 26 still in the pipeline, according to the Partnership.