Photo: Paul Sableman/Flickr
As many New Yorkers try to balance affordability and convenience, some of the city’s best-kept-secret neighborhoods are likely to see a surge in interest from homebuyers and renters alike in 2018.
Still, West Harlem was named “the” neighborhood to keep on your radar next year, even as heavy competition drives home prices up in Upper Manhattan, according to a recent report by StreetEasy.
To determine the top 10 neighborhoods to watch in 2018, the listing site looked at the annual change in both rents and home prices throughout NYC, the number of views an area’s listings received, and new certificates of occupancy filed with the city.
West Harlem easily nabbed the overall top position on the list due to its relatively slow pace of annual rental price growth and level of new construction — West Harlem ranked second in new construction levels compared to the other neighborhoods in the top 10.
And despite median home prices growing by a massive 124 percent year-over-year to $456,425, the neighborhood remains relatively affordable by Manhattan standards. The median sales price for the borough is $1.1 million, which is nearly $650,000 higher than in West Harlem.
“Coming off a year of tremendous growth in sales price, West Harlem is poised to command even greater buyer interest in 2018 thanks to its comparably lower asking prices and good transportation access,” says StreetEasy Senior Economist Grant Long in the report.
This marked the first time in StreetEasy history that a Manhattan neighborhood topped the list of neighborhoods to watch.
Rounding out the top three were Fort Greene, Brooklyn and Flushing, Queens.
In the outer boroughs, StreetEasy predicts a different trend unfolding in 2018.
“Rather than prizing heightened convenience and short commutes, we predict value-conscious home seekers will favor a one-neighborhood-over approach, turning areas adjacent to classic hotspots into a major draw,” says StreetEasy in the report.
This means that a neighborhood like Prospect Park South in Brooklyn, which is adjacent to the hip Park Slope area, is likely to draw New Yorkers keen on living the “Brooklyn lifestyle” but at a far more affordable price. Prospect Park South landed in the 7th position overall on the list and was tied for second in terms of new construction growth.
Manhattan’s Chinatown, which landed in the 8th position, was the only other neighborhood in the borough to land in the top 10.
“West Harlem and Chinatown have shown precipitous growth in home prices over last year, but only moderate growth in rental prices, suggesting that the island may find renewed appeal among renters seeking convenience and relative affordability,” says StreetEasy in the report.
Norwood — which ranked 6th overall — was the only Bronx neighborhood to make the top 10. However, Norwood ranked 1st in terms of new construction.
To read the entire report, click here.
