Top neighborhoods not hurt by real estate slump
Are there certain neighborhoods that are so high-profile, so desirable that they are immune from the slumping residential real estate market?
According to new research from Forbes Magazine, it would appear that, yes, some neighborhoods are slump-resistant.
Last week, the magazine published a report on what it calls the country’s 15 “blue chip” neighborhoods. Housing values in these most desirable of neighborhoods not only held held steady during the housing downturn, they actually increased.
Where should you move, then, if you want to live in a neighborhood that’s immune from the whims of the housing industry? Well, if you can plunk down an average of $2.45 million for your home, try New York City’s Fifth Avenue and 70th Street neighborhood, where home values have risen 325 percent since 1990.
If that’s out of your range, try another neighborhood that ranked high in Forbes’ report: Homes near Chicago’s Lake Shore Drive and Route 41 area cost an average of $1.91 million and have jumped 236 percent since 1990. If that New York price seems a little low to you, try buying a residence in Los Angeles’ Pacific Palisades neighborhood. Homes here cost an average of $3.1 million and have risen 440 percent since 1990.
I know that homes in these neighborhoods are a little out of most folks’ price ranges. But doesn’t it provide comfort to know that some homeowners aren’t struggling with declining housing values?
No. Well, maybe 2008 will be better than 2007. If you can’t hope the day after Christmas, when can you?
