17:29:33 | 2012-06-11
(New York,NY) — The New York real estate market has been subject to a great deal of change throughout the years. The New York market is the largest and fastest moving real estate market in the country, and many of the biggest changes in real estate can be seen by taking a look at New York real estate. While a number of factors have caused this market to change over the years, one of the biggest things to bring about change in real estate values is something known as walkability.
During the early years of real estate, many of the more expensive properties were those located out in the suburbs. The extra space in these suburban areas, that were only accessible by car, caused the price per square foot of these homes to skyrocket higher than city homes. However, after a big shift in the 1990s; these car accessible only areas aren’t the ones demanding higher price tags. Today, the most profitable homes have something called a high walkability score.
Walkable properties are those found in urban locations and within walking distance to nearby amenities like shops, bars and restaurants. Recent studies have found that real estate in more walkable areas are selling for more than areas where access is typically serviced by cars. Even though markets like the New York City market is entirely comprised of condensed urban areas, walkability has still factored in.
Properties in New York in general have seen a rise based primarily upon the idea that most homes in New York are more walkable than many other areas across the country. Properties in the West Village, Chelsea, the Financial District and SoHo are among the top walkable areas in the entire country, let alone New York. Higher pricing can be seen on many apartments in these areas when compared to other comparable apartments in less walkable areas of New York like Arden Heights, Greenridge or New Springfield.
In fact, the idea of walkability is impacting the market so much that there are walkability scoring devices available that can rate the “walk score,” of nearly any property. The “walk score” is even being incorporated into many apartment and home search websites. Walkability ratings have been put in place to satisfy the numerous consumers who are looking at how walkable a property is to determine just how livable that home will be for them.
—Email richard@brokerpulse.com
