Brooklyn mortgages dropped 18 percent in 2007, reports the Daily News, in line with the city's statistics. But it turns out the number of mortgages was chopped in half, or more, in poorer, minority neighborhoods, which are bearing the brunt of the foreclosure crisis — they call it the "tale of two Brooklyns." "The number of mortgages issued fell by 60% in Brownsville, 58% in Bushwick, 57% in East New York and 45% in East Flatbush," they write. "Experts say the declines are due to a combination of the drying up of the subprime market and lending discrimination by banks reluctant to make loans — even to qualified buyers — in those neighborhoods." Now for the other Brooklyn: the number of mortgages rose 48 percent in Brooklyn Heights and Fort Greene; 11 percent in Williamsburg and Greenpoint; and stayed the same in the Slope.
Mortgages Plunge by 50% in Some Minority Neighborhoods [NY Daily News]
Photo by Jimmy Legs.
