The “gayborhood premium:” A look at home prices in LGBTQ-centric areas

Homes and condominiums in West Hollywood aren’t just expensive because they’re on the Westside.

Properties in areas considered LGBTQ-centric can be worth three times as much as comparable homes in neighboring areas, according to a Zillow study cited by the Los Angeles Times. The study looked at 36 such areas nationwide.

Homes in West Palm Springs carried the highest “gayborhood premium” in California — 233 percent compared to homes in nearby Riverside. Palm Springs has more same-sex couples per household than anywhere in the state.

Cleveland’s Riverside neighborhood has an even higher premium. Homes there were nearly three times as valuable as neighboring areas, the highest in the country. New York City’s “gayborhoods” on Manhattan’s west side carry a 116.9 percent premium.

Homes in West Hollywood, long a gay enclave and popular LGBTQ vacation destination, have a 32.9 percent premium over homes in broader L.A. County. West Hollywood is home to numerous multimillion-dollar houses. Spec builder Nile Niami is asking $55 million for his own home there.

In San Francisco’s Castro District, homes were 8.1 percent cheaper than the rest of the city in the 1970s. By 2000, they grew to be 40 percent higher than the citywide average.

Still, some sectors of the real estate industry haven’t caught up. An Iowa State University study of 30 million mortgages between 1990 and 2015 found same-sex couples were 73 percent more likely to be denied a mortgage than opposite-sex couples. [LAT] — Dennis Lynch