During the housing crash it became clear that not all parts of the country were being affected equally — and not even all areas within a metro area were performing the same. In the DC region, foreclosures were rising and home prices were falling rapidly in several exurban counties, while prices were holding mostly steady and foreclosures were low in the District of Columbia and many close-in counties.
It was no coincidence that these areas were closest to job centers, and often in parts of the region with a high concentration of walkable or transit-accessible neighborhoods where the effect of high gas prices can be cushioned by having options other than driving.
As Joe Cortright said in a hard-hitting study from CEOs for Cities, “the popular narrative on the collapse of housing prices has only blamed exotic lending practices, but the much more important story is about how higher gas prices have re-drawn the map of urban real estate values. Vibrant central cities just got a whole lot more valuable.”
With our population trending away from nuclear families and toward a majority of empty-nesters and young, childless or unmarried households, combined with rising gas prices and a growing demand for homes in convenient walkable locations, the information homebuyers are seeking has changed. Buyers are increasingly interested in the ability to get around without spending hours in the car. They’re seeking out walkable neighborhoods where kids can walk to school, they can bike from time to time, or they can make it to work or the store without getting in the car.
A few real estate services have picked up on the changes. Walk Score, featured here regularly,was added as a data point to Zillow’s services, and in February, was added to a new service called Estately.com.
Estately (Estately.com) is now the best place for home buyers to find a home to fit a healthy lifestyle that takes advantage of nearby access to local shops, parks, public transit, schools, workplaces and more. Washington residents of pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods weigh 7 pounds less than residents of sprawling neighborhoods, residents of walkable neighborhoods drive less and suffer fewer car accidents, and studies show that every 10 minutes added to commute time results in 10% less time spent in community activities.
But it didn’t end there for Estately. Though it’s currently only limited to Seattle, Estately has added the ability to search for homes near transit lines and stops as part of the search process. Along with the ability find the Walk Score of a home, they’ve made the process simpler for a buyer to find a home in a location where they’ll pay less for transportation and spend less time behind the wheel each month.
Along those same lines, Kaid Benfield quoted a Business Week report from the end of June about how walkable neighborhoods in convenient locations could continue outperforming the rest of the housing market as the market heads towards a recovery:
Just as the boom years bred car-centric subdivisions and strip malls, the bust may lead buyers to cities and towns centered on a commercial, retail, and residential hub. …What makes a city livable, says urban planning and policy expert Robert E. Lang, is “the ability to walk and not drive to go pick up the basics in your life.”
It’s not just about people moving back to our center cities per se; it’s also about people looking for a small community focused on a useful, walkable town square, or places in older suburbs that are being remade into walkable places as new transit lines open and communities embrace growth in a sustainable way.
h/t to Kaid Benfield and Reconnecting America.
(Full disclosure: SGA communications director David Goldberg serves on the Walk Score advisory board)