Gentrification Map By Subway Stop Shows Kensington On-The-Rise

[Update 4/24: RentHop has since looked into the discrepancy in rents between the Ft. Hamilton Parkway, Church Ave, and Ditmas Ave stops and printed this retraction: “The buildings from the listings on East 2nd Street are actually in East Village and were incorrectly listed in Kensington, Brooklyn. After re-running the data for the Church and Fort Hamilton stops and filtering out a few brokerages, here are the results: Church Ave – $1,995 median asking rent, up 5.3 percent from $1,895 in 2016. With a $270 drop between Church and Ditmas.” We have reflected the article to match these changes.]

A report released last week by the real estate lister RentHop mapped out rent price patterns for one-bedroom apartments based on proximity to a subway stop — 660 feet, to be exact.

And they found the biggest price jumps of the year happening in our very own backyard: Ditmas Park and Kensington.

According to RentHop’s study that compares 2016 to the first quarter of 2017, rents have plummeted across much of Manhattan. And while we all know Brooklyn is the best borough, the market is starting to catch up to the F and Q lines stretching as far as Kensington, where year-over-year prices for apartments near the subway have jumped this year.

This data indicates a shift in priorities, concludes RentHop, for more space and cheaper rents.

These subway stops saw huge rent jumps

• Q Train – Parkside Ave – (+25.8 percent) $2,353
• J Train – Halsey St – (+24.7 percent) $2,245
• F/G Trains – Church Ave – (+5.3 percent) $1,995 [original report listed a 22.3 percent increase with a median rent at about $2900]
• C Train – Ralph Ave – (+22 percent) $2,269
• J/Z Trains – Chauncey St – (+19.5 percent) $2,298

One-bedroom apartments near the Church Avenue F/G stop saw a 5.3 percent jump in rents in the first quarter of 2017. But at the next stop south, Ditmas Avenue (one stop past the termination of the G train) prices dropped. “People have been willing to move further from the city,” said Shane Leese, Data Scientist from RentHop.

But perhaps not so far that they can’t hop on the G to Williamsburg or Long Island City.

On the Ditmas side, apartments near the Parkside Avenue Q stop saw a 25 percent increase from the same period last year. By comparison, near the Church Avenue B/Q stop next door saw a 5.9 percent jump from 2016, possibly due to the scores of new luxury buildings rising near the Park’s eastern side, like 123 Parkside Avenue, said Leese.

Another cool feature of the map is a color-coded gentrification predictor. “You can look at where the prices are going up and see a ring of where the trend is going,” said Leese.

Click the ‘YoY’ option to see the red ring of rising rents laterally from Sunset Park, Kensington, and Prospect-Lefferts Gardens.

[Note: the information below has since been retracted by RentHop]

New Yorkers from Manhattan to Canarsie pay the same subway fare to get anywhere on the line. But the real value point is time — as we all know, the difference between a few miles can mean an hour plus on the train, say, after midnight or during weekend service changes. Or packed into an overstuffed train car during rush hour day in and day out.

But how much subway time would you add to save hundreds on rent? Or even thousands? While gentrification is trending southward in Brooklyn, renters can still save more than one thousand dollars one stop away on the F train, according to RentHop. When it comes to the largest price disparity between a single stop, the winner is right here in Kensington.

• Save $1,225 between Church Ave ($2,950) and Ditmas Ave ($1,725) – F Train (G Train ends at Church Ave)