Blue-Chip Hot Spots Sidestep Housing Downturn

Blue-Chip Hot Spots Sidestep Housing Downturn

Residential real estate prices are clicking upward in numerous neighborhoods around the U.S. Look closer to home and you'll also see that there's good news in the luxury home segment. Forbes magazine reports that many of the nation’s “blue-chip” neighborhoods have largely sidestepped the housing downturn.

While gambles on up-and-coming neighborhoods and new developments paid off for many real estate investors during the boom, housing markets across the country are now awash with unsold condos and suffering from sluggish sales.

But this is not the case for homeowners in so-called "blue chip" neighborhoods. Properties in these well-established spots have held on to and increased in value over the last 17 years. They include segments of Pacific Palisades in Los Angeles, areas of Chicago and parts of University Park in Dallas. In these spots, the median home sale price has grown, in that time, by 440%, 236% and 148%, respectively. Properties in these areas have held their value and in many cases increased just as steadily in the past two years as they have in the last 17. While this may be a function of location, location, location. It is also a result of the strength of the upper-tier housing market. Note the median home price in each of the Forbes hot-spots below and you'll see what I mean.

These neighborhoods, located in the country's 15 largest metros, have enjoyed the greatest total appreciation since 1990 of any metropolitan areas in the country. Forbes gathered data from NeighborhoodScout.com which aggregated information from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Here are Forbes top 15 hot spots, their median home sale price and price growth since 1990:

Miami, Brickell Ave. and 13th St. - $623,492, 471 percent
Los Angeles, Pacific Palisades - $3.1 million, 440 percent
Washington, Rock Creek Parkway and Massachusetts Ave. - $2.84 million, 393 percent
New York, Fifth Ave. and 70th St. - $2.45 million, 325 percent
San Francisco, El Camino Del Mar and Lake St. - $2.2 million, 282 percent
Atlanta, Ponce De Leon Ave. and Oakdale Road - $703,087, 237 percent
Chicago, Lake Shore Drive and Route 41 - $1.91 million, 236 percent
Boston, Chelsea St. and Medford St. - $1.48 million, 221 percent
Seattle, Laurelhurst - $1.12 million, 216 percent
Minneapolis, Cedar Lake Road and Theodore Wirth Parkway - $305,290, 197 percent
Houston, West University Place - $663,740, 194 percent
Philadelphia, Walnut and Third streets - $914,115, 184 percent
Phoenix, Village On The Lakes and Taliverde - $1.01 million, 177 percent
Dallas, University Park - $898,640, 148 percent
Detroit, Grosse Point Park - $510,578, 142 percent

If the stats are correct, they seem to reinforce the idea that the luxury market is alive and well in the U.S.!

Visit more blogs by Sam Smith at www.bclh.com/blog