Rising Housing Prices May Signal the End of an Era
By Stuart White
People say Sunset Park is changing. Long the home of working-class immigrants—first Scandinavian, then Hispanic and now Chinese—the neighborhood has seen a serious spike in the price of homes in the last four years, leading residents to believe that gentrification is around the corner. Some people, like bar owner Miguel Cintron, have already been forced out of apartments because of rising rent.
While the cost of multi-family homes in the neighborhood has gone up by about 12%, single-family home prices have shot up by nearly 40% according to the NYC Department of Finance, an amazing spike considering the fact that the national average has declined by about 19% over roughly the same period. The map below shows the locations of a few homes for sale in the area and some price comparisons between 2005 and the present.