June 15, 2006
Gentrification has also led to significantly higher rents in some newly desirable neighborhoods. In downtown, for example, lofts that five years ago went for $800 a month rent at $1,800 or more now.
"There's a real economic incentive to get these properties and transfer them to 'market rate' units," said professor Raphael Bostic of USC's Lusk Center for Real Estate. But, he added, "you do have to clear out the original tenants to do that."