REAL ESTATE Queens is ninth most expensive county in US to live in BY EMILY DAVENPORT [email protected]/@QNS It’s no secret that it’s expensive to live in New York City. However, according to ATTOM Data Solutions, Queens has offi cially broken the top 10 most expensive counties to live in, sitting comfortably at spot number nine on that list. ATTOM Data Solutions, the country’s Sales in Queens HOMES – CO-OPS – CONDOS Listings and photos courtesy MLSLI NORTHEAST NORTHWEST SOUTHEAST SOUTHWEST DOUGLASTON JACKSON HEIGHTS QUEENS VILLAGE PICTURED LISTING MIDDLE VILLAGE Under $500,000 246-65 57th Drive, Little Neck $329,000 Co-op 3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom Alan Mei SpaceMax Realty $500,000-900,000 135-17 Northern Blvd., Flushing $680,000 Condo 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom Fultonex Realty Over $900,000 206-11 45th Drive, Bayside $2,079,000 1-family home 6 bedrooms, 6 ½ bathrooms Qingyu Luo E Realty International Corp Under $500,000 35-11 85th St., Jackson Heights $275,000 Co-op 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom Caroline Quintana Keller Williams Landmark II $500,000-900,000 31-11 58th St., Woodside $799,000 1-family home 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms Santiago Coste Inter Realty LLC Over $900,000 26-26 18th St., Astoria $1,299,000 2-family home 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms Pavlos Milonakis Halvatzis Realty Under $500,000 218-47 110th Ave., Queens Village $479,000 1-family home 4 bedrooms, 2 ½ bathrooms Abdus Salam New Dream Realty $500,000-900,000 85-28 164th St., Jamaica $729,900 1-family home 4 bedrooms, 1 ½ bathrooms Charley Gonzales Exit Alliance Realty Over $900,000 166-21 Goethals Ave., Hillcrest $1,995,000 1-family home 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms Solomon Davydov Exit Realty First Choice Under $500,000 88-14 89th St., Woodhaven $299,000 1-family home 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom Gladys Ramirez Telemundo Realty Corp $500,000-900,000 61-52 82nd St., Middle Village $827,000 1-family home 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms John Cannella Keller Williams Landmark II Over $900,000 60-81 70th Ave., Ridgewood $1,399,000 3-family home 7 bedrooms, 3 ½ bathrooms Marek Sobolewski Exit All Seasons Realty leading source for comprehensive housing data, released its Q3 2016 Home Affordability Index last week that sheds some light on why Queens is so expensive. ATTOM Data Solutions’ quarterly reports rank counties on a scale of affordability based on comparing people’s incomes with market rate housing and closing costs. According to the MarketWatch, which fi rst reported on ATTOM’s report fi ndings, “The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development says a maximum of 30 percent of your income should be spent on housing or you risk having ‘diffi culty affording necessities such as food, clothing, transportation and medical care.’” The report indicates that the average person in Queens has to pay a whopping 83.7 percent of their income to be able to buy median housing throughout the borough. So why is it becoming more expensive to live in Queens? According to MarketWatch, many people looking to move are being priced out of other counties such as Manhattan (which sits at the number four spot on the list) and Brooklyn (which is offi cially the most expensive place to live based on this report) and are settling down in Queens, thus pushing the prices up. However, wages aren’t increasing to support the new increase in home prices throughout the county, making Queens less affordable. Part of the reason why housing has become so expensive in Queens (and in other counties) is that closing costs have gone through the roof when you’re buying a house in this borough. According to the report, when you reach the closing table at the end of your house hunt, you could be spending an average of $15,908 in closing costs. This averages out to be 32 percent of a Queens resident’s annual wages. On the bright side, Queens doesn’t stand alone in this department. ATTOM’s report found that the markets with the highest closing costs were all from New York; Brooklyn and Manhattan round out the top of the list at 47.2 percent and 42.6 percent respectively, and the Bronx and Suffolk County round out the bottom at 21 percent. Photo: Wikiepdia Creative Commons/Jleon Queens has offi cially broken the top 10 list of most expensive places to live, report says.
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