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How living in a US gayborhood affects the price of your home
Gay neighborhoods are not just more expensive than most other neighborhoods in their metropolitan area, they also appreciate more quickly.
In the last three years, home prices in neighborhoods with high numbers of male same-sex couples have increased by an average of 23%, according to a new study by online real estate service Trulia; prices in lesbian neighborhoods rose by 18%.
‘Gay couples tend to have higher disposable incomes’, explained Ralph McLaughlin, working as a housing economist with Trulia, in an interview with Yahoo.
‘Now that the economy is recovering, couples with higher incomes may be looking to locate in these neighborhoods because they tend to have higher amenities and tend to be located in more expensive and faster growing metropolitan areas.’
The study shows lesbian neighborhoods to be appreciating faster, which McLaughlin says may have three reasons.
Gay neighborhoods weren’t hit as hard during the recession in comparison to their female counterparts, meaning neighborhoods with more female couples could be experiencing a rebound effect; gentrification is also a likely cause.
‘Lesbian neighborhoods tend to be a little bit more family friendly, and lesbian couples in general tend to have more children than gay couples,’ McLaughlin continued.
‘So it could be, now that the economy is getting better, [lesbians] may be looking to locate into traditional lesbian neighborhoods to start and raise their families.’
Leading Trulia’s list of the top 10 gay neighborhoods is Palm Springs, where prices rose by 65% – from a median price of $158 (€143.30, £101.55) in 2012 to $260 (€235.78, £167.12) today.
Prices in Redwood Heights / Skyline in Oakland appreciated equally fast and the average rise of 64% in house prices puts the area in the leading position in Trulia’s comparison of lesbian neighborhoods.
But gayborhoods don’t just clock some of the highest rises in house prices – they’re also generally more expensive, with areas like West Hollywood and Provincetown seeing prices at a level roughly 120% above prices in their metro.
The Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage, which hadn’t been announced at the time of the interview, may see same-sex couples turn away from traditional gay-friendly neighborhoods, McLaughlin speculated.
‘Traditionally, same-sex couples have actually gathered in enclaves across the country because being in a same-sex relationship wasn’t as socially accepted as it is now,’ he said.
‘What we could see is actually a spreading out of concentrations of gay couples around the country.’
The post How living in a US gayborhood affects the price of your home appeared first on Gay Star News.
Stefanie Gerdes
www.gaystarnews.com/article/how-living-in-a-us-gayborhood-affects-the-price-of-your-home/
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