22 THE QUEENS COURIER • MARCH 8, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Queens sees soaring home sale
prices, but plummeting rents: report
BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI
smonteverdi@qns.com / @smont76
While home prices in Queens — and
especially in the Rockaways — continue
to soar, renters are catching a break
due to falling prices, according to a new
report.
According to StreetEasy, Queens sales
prices climbed to record highs, rising 5
percent year-over-year for January to an
all-time high of $512,082. Th is is since
the site started tracking approximately
13 years ago.
Prices in the Rockaways saw the most
growth of any submarket, where the
index rose 22.2 percent to $525,425. Th e
least expensive within the borough in
October 2017, the area is now the thirdmost
expensive in Queens behind the
northeast and northwest Queens submarkets.
In January, College Point, Corona,
south Jamaica and Woodside each saw
substantial increases in home median
asking price year over year. Th e neighborhoods
of Whitestone and Beerchurst
saw price decreases of about 20 percent,
while Glen Oaks saw a 33 percent
decrease.
Meanwhile, Queens rents fell 1.2
percent year-over-year to an average
$2,071. Rent averages fell the most
in the northwest Queens submarket,
where the average decreased by 2.4 percent
to $2,142, matching the price levels
of spring 2015.
In Queens, Woodhaven saw the highest
increase in median asking rent at
31 percent, while Jamaica Estates and
Queensboro Hills saw the highest
decreases. Prices remained stagnant in
Elmhurst and east Flushing.
StreetEasy Senior Economist Grant
Long noted that since home sale prices
are “heating up” in the borough, buyers
should expect “an increasingly tight and
competitive sales market” in the coming
months.
“New York City’s rental and sales markets
have started off the year heading in
two diff erent directions,” he said. “Rents
across Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens
continue to cool, providing renters with
more bargaining power than in recent
years. But buyers — especially those
focused on the aff ordable end of homes
— won’t be catching the same break in
2018.”
Home sales calculations include data
on condos, co-ops, townhouses and
single-family homes and are sourced
from the New York City Department
of Finance and StreetEasy listings. Data
included in the calculation of rent indices
comes from listings submitted to
StreetEasy by brokerages, property managers
and individual landlords.
Photo via Wikimedia Commons/David Shankbone
Homes in Far Rockaway
Costa: Build aff ordable senior homes in parking lot
BY ANGELA MATUA
amatua@qns.com / @angelamatua
With an estimated 20,000 seniors
on waiting lists for housing in his district,
Councilman Costa Constantinides
announced his plan to build an aff ordable
housing development to help “older New
Yorkers age with dignity.”
Constantinides announced on March
1 that he would ask the city to build
housing on a municipal parking lot 31-07
31st St. to accommodate 100 to 150 units.
Council District 22, which encompasses
Astoria and parts of Jackson Heights, East
Elmhurst and Woodside features the highest
number of seniors on aff ordable senior
housing lists in the city.
In total, the councilman wants to build at
least 500 units of aff ordable housing before
his term is up in 2021.
“Our city is undergoing an aff ordable
housing crisis, with rents rising and many
unable to stay in their neighborhoods,”
he said. “Our senior citizens are perhaps
the most vulnerable group in the midst
of our aff ordability crisis. We must make
sure that we foster inclusive community
development and keep our neighborhood
aff ordable for seniors who want to
stay in the neighborhood they call home
by actively seeking opportunities to build
more aff ordable housing units.”
Th e site, which is more than 20,000
square feet, would need to go through
a Uniform Land Use Review Procedure
(ULURP), where input would be gathered
from the local Community Board,
City Council, Borough President and City
Planning.
In a letter to Alicia Glen, the deputy
mayor for Housing and Economic
Development, the councilman argued that
the site’s proximity to public transportation,
a supermarket and local shops, make
it a desirable place for the neighborhood’s
seniors.
“Its proximity to mass transit and local
shopping off ers seniors the unique chance
to live in an environment with many
opportunities for socialization – a critical
component to mental and physical health
as we age,” he wrote in the letter.
The proposal received support
from other community groups like the
Hellenic American Neighborhood Action
Committee (HANAC), which operates
the HANAC Corona Senior residence at
54-17 101st St., LiveOn NY and Catholic
Charities Brooklyn and Queens.
“Giving seniors the opportunity to aff ord
to live in their neighborhoods creates inclusive
communities and addresses our city’s
aff ordability crisis,” said John Kaiteris,
executive director of HANAC. “Astoria is
in desperate need of new aff ordable senior
housing units. Councilman Constantinides’
proposal to build these new units in an
area near transit and local shopping will
improve quality of life for our seniors.”
Photo courtesy of Councilman Costa Constantinides
Councilman Costa Constantinides is proposing that the city build an aff ordable housing complex on
31st Street in Astoria.