How gentrification is affecting housing prices in San Antonio
Urban renewal provokes a variety of responses. One thing’s for sure though – if you’re looking to purchase a home in an area considered to be in a time of gentrification, you’re going to need some serious cash.
Gentrification as defined by Merriam-Webster is “the process of renewal and rebuilding accompanying the influx of middle-class or affluent people into the deteriorating areas that often displaces poorer residents.”
When a formerly depressed neighborhood suddenly becomes hot, the rapid growth can transform an area almost overnight. But it can also bring expensive growing pains. Is gentrification making San Antonio unaffordable?
Gentrification can happen quickly. As higher-income buyers move into a growing neighborhood, the cost of living goes up. Rents typically escalate, forcing poor and working-class families to move elsewhere.
For many residents, the effects of gentrification can quickly become a politically-charged issue. The question is whether the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.
Top 10 Gentrifying Cities in the USA
Nationwide, only about five percent of urban tracts that could be gentrified are actually going that route, according to the Denver Office of Economic Development. But in the top gentrifying cities, new higher-income residents are displacing the existing lower-income residents at a much more rapid pace.
The top 10 fastest-gentrifying cities are:
- Charleston, SC
- Asheville, NC
- Washington, DC
- Portland, OR
- Denver, CO
- Nashville, TN
- Sacramento, CA
- Jersey City, NJ
- Long Beach, CA
- Austin, TX
How Gentrification Can Help Homeowners
As property values rise, homeowners often find themselves stuck paying ever-higher property taxes. Those who can’t afford the taxes must often sell their homes. But there is an upside: the opportunity to profit handsomely from a higher selling price.
Homeowners who stick around, meanwhile, can enjoy the economic benefits of gentrification, including new shopping, new restaurants, new job opportunities, better schools, and lower crime rates.
Gentrification in San Antonio
Over the last decade, cities in the Lone Star have been slow to use this relatively new method.
Approximately 20% of residents here are living below the federal poverty line. In many neighborhoods of San Antonio, gentrification has raised rents and home prices significantly.
On May 6th, San Antonio Voters approved an $850,000 municipal bond, which will have a serious impact towards improving many blighted areas of the city. This bond will allocate funds to spearhead the renewal of the Alamo Plaza, as well as to increase the development in the Hemisfair Park area. Revitalization projects will also spread to the Broadway corridor, the Zona Cultural, and the Downtown area.
Similarly, this bond will allow for the building of the Hardberger Park Land Bridge. Built with $10 million in private funds, this will be a extensive construction project that will add a tremendous amount of additional green space to the community.
All of this will attract substantial increases in private development. All of the renewal projects included in the $850 million bond promise to attract more young professionals, and, as such, raise home prices significantly.
How to Buy in a Gentrified Neighborhood of San Antonio (Without Spending a Fortune)
Without a doubt, gentrification is raising home values across parts of San Antonio, and finding a bargain isn’t easy. By the time a neighborhood starts heating up, real estate prices are already shooting skyward. But that doesn’t mean it’s too late to buy a home at an affordable price.
We Buy Ugly Houses San Antonio buys homes in all areas of the city, renovates them, and then sells them at the best possible prices. No matter which neighborhood is next in line for gentrification, you can still find a great home to buy.
