QUEENS — Homes and apartments throughout Elmhurst are being scooped up at a wide range of prices, data shows, as one analyst says the neighborhood has become an alternative to pricey Long Island City.
The average cost to buy a home or apartment in the neighborhood is $543 per square foot, excluding foreclosures, short sales, lots focused solely on development and other restricted housing, according to Constantine Valhouli, founder of the real estate analytics site NeighborhoodX.
Within this average there exists a wild range of costs — from $271-per-square-foot for an apartment on Elmhurst Avenue to nearly $1,000-per-square-foot for an apartment south of Roosevelt Avenue on 71st Street.
Elmhurst is a "very heterogeneous and diverse neighborhood, and people are living here at different price points," Valhouli said.
While many other neighborhoods across the city feature a range of available housing, Elmhurst is one of only a few with lower prices per square foot.
It shows the neighborhood's own stability by being able to offer room to grow, he said.
"The neighborhoods that I find the most interesting are the ones with diversity, where you can access it at different points in your life and different earning power," Valhouli said.
Real estate developers have dubbed Elmhurst one of the city's hottest neighborhoods over the last few years as higher-end apartments have popped up.
The Continental on 51st Avenue, steps from Broadway, was renamed "The Continental Park" in 2014 after major renovations.
The former St. John's Hospital on Queens Boulevard is now a higher-end residential building, and The Elm on Broadway and Queens Boulevard also features pricier luxury apartments. The neighboring Elm East across the street is still under construction.
These buildings will ultimately effect the average cost of a home, Valhouli said.
The costs will change, too, as buyers are priced out of other neighborhoods, he added.
"Just as Long Island City has been an alternative to Manhattan, I think Elmhurst is being positioned as an alternative to Long Island City," he said. "I have a feeling the pricing chart is going to look really different in six months."
