Saturday, June 24, 2017

Home Prices Spiking in Gay Communities



As the housing market continues to recover from the Great Recession, gay neighborhoods are leading the charge, reports CBS News.

In 2012, it would have cost homebuyers nearly 30 percent more to live in neighborhoods with a large number of gay, lesbian and bisexual residents. Now, it will run almost 37 percent more to live in those same areas.

In honor of Pride Month, Trulia partnered with OKCupid to track the rising -- and falling -- demand for gay communities across the country since 2012. They did this by calculating a "Pride Score." That's the percentage of OKCupid users searching for same-sex partners plus the percentage of same-sex households, according to Census data, for ZIP codes in each U.S. metro area. Trulia then calculated the median values per square foot of homes for sale in those neighborhoods in both 2012 and 2017 to see how they changed over time and relative to their metro areas.

According to the study, many predominantly gay neighborhoods have recovered more quickly than other neighborhoods.

"This is the big puzzle of the whole story," said Ralph McLaughlin, Trulia's chief economist.

"The leading hypothesis is that since 'Pride' individuals and couples tend to have fewer children and higher disposable incomes, they might seek out neighborhoods that are on the upswing."

 RW

2 comments:

  1. I read recently about groups who prefer amenities versus groups who prefer families; the members of the former group tend to support legislation that result in high housing costs, which tend to dissuade members of the second group from moving there. Meanwhile, people who prefer to have families tend to support legislation (and prefer to live in regions) that result in lower housing costs.

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