Queens Real Estate
Market Analysis of Real Estate In Queens
Queens NY / January 2010. I had been wondering how the Queens real estate market was faring ever since the national real estate market began sliding in 2006. In some of the less fortunate sections of Queens not covered in this story, there have been headlines about financial woes and a lot of turn over. We witnessed it ourselves, seeing numerous for sale signs within certain blocks and neighborhoods in lower income sections of Queens.
Red Lines Housing Crisis Exhibit Drew Attention To Queens Real Estate In Lower Income Neighborhoods
Earlier this year the Queens Museum Of Art even hosted an art exhibit entitled ‘Red Lines Housing Crisis’ by Damon Rich showing how the lower income sections of Queens had been hard hit by foreclosures. In the photo below you can see this for yourself in his work, wherein the neighborhoods of East Elmhurst / Corona have red flags showing multiple foreclosures on a block. But what I found in the northwest neighborhoods of Queens was quite a different story, as there were few red flags / foreclosures. In the photo below Astoria, LIC - Long Island City, Sunnyside, Woodside & Jackson Heights are above and to the left of the distressed / red flagged areas.
Queens Real Estate - Market Analysis Sources
I interviewed a number of owners of the leading real estate agencies in Queens over the past couple of months to survey the Queens real estate markets in the neighborhoods of Astoria, LIC - Long Island City, Jackson Heights, Sunnyside and Woodside. I also cross checked the information I obtained with print and web sources, as well as information gleaned from conversations with Queens real estate owners, local bankers, and Queens real estate buyers and sellers. I also used Damon Rich's seminal work, Red Lines Housing Crisis, and artistic statement as shown in the photo above. The photo of this exhibit was taken at the Queens Museum of Art this past summer.
Queens Real Estate - 2009 Market Analysis
I framed the questions using this past decade as the reference time period to help keep what’s going on now in perspective. From 2000 to 2006 Queens County generally saw a significant and widespread rise in real estate prices and rents. An up market is usually good for everyone, except the renters of uncontrolled rental apartments. In 2005 / early 2006 the Queens real estate market peaked. Over the course of 2006 prices flattened. Then beginning in 2007 and continuing to this day, prices have been declining. Based on the information I gathered, western Queens appears to be mirroring the national composite price trends, but with some important differences. See a representational image of the Case Shiller National Housing Price Index.
Western Queens Demographic Influx - Boosts Queens Real Estate Demand
Generally the background for this Queens real estate analysis is that throughout the early part of this decade Queens has seen a significant influx of renters and real estate buyers from both Manhattan and Brooklyn. As real estate and rental prices skyrocketed in the neighboring boroughs, smart shoppers and adventurous city workers began to seek a higher quality of life at a lower cost in Queens. Hence they began to arrive in Queens by cars, taxis, buses and subways – a sort of 21st century domestic rendition of the immigration inflows seen in this city about 100 years ago. The demographic changes were visible in the western part of the borough throughout the decade. It seemed almost weekly one would see the new faces of city professionals and working class arrive, bags in tow, to seek a higher standard of living.
Queens Real Estate - The Market Gentrifies
As the influx grew and the prices rose, developers in Long Island City began building in earnest, erecting huge new apartment complexes to rent or sell. Financing was easy and it seemed everyone began buying Queens real estate - from first time home-buyers, to real estate investment corporations. Large property management firms bought some of the large apartment complexes in Astoria, Jackson Heights and Sunnyside. Money flowed into the Queens real estate market in the form of purchases, and then with upgrades and improvements. As they say, the western Queens real estate market was being gentrified.
In 2006 prices began to moderate and loan standards began to rise. Naturally the sales volume began to moderate, but real estate sales kept moving until the fall of 2008 when the U.S. financial system nearly collapsed. Since then loan requirements have risen significantly and this has slowed the sale of properties generally, as well as in Queens.
Queens Real Estate - Neighborhoods
What follows is a market-by-market real estate analysis of western Queens. While the general background for the market is as outlined above, the particulars of a neighborhood’s available real estate inventory, resident demographics and market perception all come into play.
In addition to clicking to reports about individual neighborhoods in the Queens real estate market, you may also click this link to view our Queens Neighborhoods section which will provide you with some perspective on what each Queens section has to offer.
Queens Real Estate - Related Stories
Click here to view the Astoria real estate neighborhood analysis. Click here to view the Jackson Heights real estate neighborhood analysis. Click here to view the Long Island City LIC real estate neighborhood analysis. Click here to view the Sunnyside real estate / Woodside real estate neighborhood analysis and the Flushing real estate section of this site as well as the Jamaica NY real estate section of this site.
Click here to go to the Queens Real Estate section of this site. Click here to view Queens Real Estate Classifieds.
Queens Realtors - Links
Click here to go to the home page of Halvatzis Realty in Astoria and Beaudoin Realty - for Jackson Heights real estate. Click this link to meet some of the Jackson Heights realtors on their website.
Queens Real Estate - Related Links
Click here to go to the home page of Ponce De Leon Bank for Mortgages In Astoria & Queens.
Queens Neighborhood - Links
Click on these advertisements for promotions, discounts and coupons by retailers and restaurateurs in Long Island City LIC and nearby Queens. Click here for a related story about the hotels & restaurants in Dutch Kills section of Queens.
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