8 THE QUEENS COURIER • JANUARY 18, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Home foreclosures in Queens surge 40 percent in 2017: report
BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI
smonteverdi@qns.com / @smont76
First-time foreclosures in Queens and
throughout the city are approaching levels
Photo via Pixabay
Parts of Queens will lose 7 train express for weeks of repairs
BY ANGELA MATUA
amatua@qns.com / @angelamatua
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off of several stops on the 7 train will
not have express train service.
Express service between 74th Street-
Broadway in Jackson Heights and
Queensboro Plaza stations will not be
operating between Feb. 17 through March
12, the Daily News fi rst reported.
Th e change is due to work on the
61st Street-Woodside station where the
MTA will work to fi x the support structures
holding up the tracks. To complete
this work, the express track needs to be
removed.
“We have signifi cant infrastructure
work to do along the 7 line but dates and
plans have not been fi nalized,” said MTA
spokesperson Shams Tarek. “Many riders
will not be impacted, but we will of course
accommodate riders as needed.”
Trains will run express from Main
Street to 74th Street-Broadway and
will make local stops from 74th Street-
Broadway through Queensboro Plaza. To
accommodate riders, the MTA will run
more frequent service along the line.
Riders expressed their frustration at
a 2016 meeting with MTA offi cials in
Sunnyside who outlined a number of
infrastructure upgrades they had planned
for the line, including the installation of
communications-based train control or
CBTC, track panel replacements and adding
more on-the-go kiosks for real-time
updates.
not seen since the aft ermath of the
2008 fi nancial crisis, according to a new
report.
Queens saw a 40 percent increase in
foreclosure cases from 2016 to 2017, a
report from real estate site PropertyShark
said. A total of 1,260 fi rst-time foreclosures
were recorded for the borough in
2017.
Th e 11434 ZIP code, which covers areas
of Jamaica, Rochdale and Springfi eld
Gardens, saw the most foreclosures
last year in both the borough and the
city, with 114 recorded cases. Th e area,
a “known foreclosure hotspot,” was
the only Queens ZIP code to see more
than 100 cases in 2017, according to
PropertyShark.
Th e ZIP codes with the second and third
most foreclosures were 11412 and 11413,
which lie directly east of 11434. Th ese ZIP
codes include areas of St. Albans, Hollis
and Laurelton.
In the western part of the borough,
areas of Astoria, Long Island City and
Rego Park saw the least number of
foreclosures. In eastern Queens, Fresh
Meadows, Hollis Hills and Glen Oaks
posted the lowest numbers.
While Queens saw the highest number
of foreclosure cases in 2017, it did not
see the highest percentage increase yearover
year: Staten Island saw the most dramatic
percentage increase. With 428 foreclosures
recorded in 2017, compared to
183 in 2016, the borough saw a 134 percent
increase year-over-year. Brooklyn
and the Bronx also saw higher percentage
increases.
In 2017, foreclosure auctions in New
York City “exploded,” according to
PropertyShark. Th e numbers recorded
last year were close to levels seen aft er the
2008 fi nancial crisis.
Aft er peaking in 2008, new foreclosures
in NYC dropped steadily in following
years until numbers bottomed out in
2012. A “slow but steady” increase followed.
In 2017, a total of 3,306 New York City
homes were scheduled for auction, representing
an overall increase of 58 percent
year-over-year. Th e number of cases has
almost doubled since 2015.
Th e PropertyShark study focused on
residential properties scheduled for auction
for the fi rst time in 2017. Residential
properties included were single- and
two-family homes and condo and co-op
units.
View the full foreclosure report at
PropertyShark.com.
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia/HarrisonLeong
Express service between 74th St.-Broadway and Queensboro Plaza will not operate for three weeks.
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