The median sales price in Brooklyn hit a record $610,894 in the first quarter of this year, marking the first time the median crossed the $600,000 threshold in the borough, according to a report prepared by the appraiser Jonathan J. Miller for the brokerage firm Douglas Elliman. That is still less expensive overall than Manhattan, where the median sales price was $970,000 for the same period, but apartments in certain Manhattan neighborhoods can be had for less.

Image From left, Ms. Adams’s former home in Dumbo, and the couple’s new and less expensive home in the East 50s near the East River. Credit... Robert Wright for The New York Times

The best deals can be found along Manhattan’s edges, in areas like Washington Heights, Inwood and Morningside Heights. In these northerly neighborhoods, the median sales price for co-ops and condos in the first quarter was less than $500,000. And as some buyers have discovered, Manhattan neighborhoods where the median sales price is more than $1 million, such as the financial district and Sutton Place, can be less expensive than Dumbo and Vinegar Hill, sought-after Brooklyn areas where the median sales price is $1,275,000. And forget about the quintessential brownstone in decent condition in northern Brooklyn unless you are prepared to shell out around $2 million.

Competition from deep-pocketed investors, combined with a scarcity of listings, means even people whose Brooklyn apartments have appreciated in price are having a difficult time finding something nearby they can afford, especially if they’re looking for more space.

“If you bought something early on for $500,000 and now it’s $1 million,” Mr. Miller said, your newfound wealth is just “money on paper” because “everything around you in Brooklyn has also seen that growth.”