8 THE QUEENS COURIER • JANUARY 5, 2017 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM HOT COMMODITIES Bayside & Astoria among NYC’s most popular places to live: report BY ANGELA MATUA amatua@qns.com/@AngelaMatua StreetEasy‘s annual list ranking the city’s top 10 hottest neighborhoods is dominated by Brooklyn, but two Queens neighborhoods made the list this year. Th e real estate listing site looked at four factors to put the list together, including the annual change in sales and rent price, recent population growth and annual change in StreetEasy page views per listing. HAPPY NEW YEAR COME IN AND TAKE ADVANTAGE OF OUR SPECIALS 1/31/17 1/31/17 1/31/17 1/31/17 1/31/17 Bayside was fi ft h on the list while Astoria fi lled the 10th spot. In Bayside, the median sales price for a home in 2016 was $438,000, while the median rent price was $2,250. Astoria’s median sales price was signifi cantly higher at $795,000. Th e median rent price for an apartment was $2,295. In her analysis, StreetEasy economist Krishna Rao predicted that more people will turn to home ownership in 2017 since rents will continue to outpace income growth. So it’s not surprising that more suburban neighborhoods like Bayside made the list. “Th e minimum wage is increasing and incomes are inching upwards, but it’s an uphill battle when rents are already so high across the city,” Rao said. “For those who have saved for a down payment, we expect to see more people – especially millennials – taking advantage of a slowing sales market and buying homes as rents continue to rise.” Queens rents increased 4.1 percent year-over-year to $2,870 this November, outpacing both Manhattan and Brooklyn. Rents in the borough are expected to continue increasing by 2.4 percent over the next year, followed by Manhattan (2 percent) and Brooklyn (1 percent). Other neighborhoods such as Kingsbridge in the Bronx and Yorkville in Manhattan made the list, partly due to the addition of the Second Avenue subway line, according to Rao. With changes in transportation like the 7 train extension to Hudson Yards and the upcoming L train shutdown and M train repairs, buyers and renters will take these factors into consideration when choosing where to live. “Th is year’s list is all about the trade-off s New Yorkers are willing to make, whether that means extending your search by one neighborhood in exchange for a nearby park, or extending your commute to fi nd a single-family home,” Rao said.
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