An absolutely unscientific Streeteasy survey regarding 1 bedroom flats. I didn't list Williamsburg/East Williamsburg/ Greenpoint/DUMBO/Brooklyn Heights because they are along the water and are better compared to LIC.
Jackson Heights has 24 listed: 1 (4%) is above $500,000. 9 (38%) are above $400,000.
Bed-stuy/Bushwick has 28 listed: 18 (64%) are above $500,000. 26 (93%) are above $400,000.
Crown Heights has 16 listed: 13 (81%) are above $500,00. 14 (88%) are above $400,000.
One can punch holes in that comparison, but it's pretty clear it's not even close pricewise.
As for the bubble thingy. A bubble is when a particular item is overvalued far beyond its intrinsic value. Are home prices in JH much higher than their intrinsic value? Rental rates are probably the only way to objectively ground real estate prices to inherent values. True, that itself is grounded in the idea that the city remains economically sound. Whether our 1970's nadir was an aberration or simply part of a repeating cycle, we can reasonably expect the city to have good health in the foreseeable future.
So let's take a $2,000 a month one bedroom rental against a $400,000 one bedroom purchase. Both are on the higher end of what's going on in JH (though usually, the former is inferior in quality to the latter). While I am sure its methods can be challenged, a NYTimes rent vs. buy calculator determines that in such a scenario, given a $900 a month maintenance, it's cheaper to buy rather than rent if you plan on living here at least 5 years.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/upshot/buy-rent-calculator.html?_r=0I don't see a bubble or overpricing. I see folks who contributed to the boom in Brooklyn while in their 20's now in their 30's wanting to buy and coming out to JH to do it.