Evaluation of the impact of gentrification on property values
Abstract
The term gentrification was first coined in the 1964 by British sociologist Ruth Glass to describe
the displacement of the working-class residents of London neighborhoods by middle class new
comers. The concept of gentrification is associated with neighborhood transitions after the poor
and vulnerable residents being colonized by the more privileged. The wealthier new comers move
into the neighborhoods of the working-class people therefore new amenities and businesses arise
to cater for the new residents. Such changes attract more prosperous people in the gentrified area
and this clearly illustrates that there is more demand for real estate and so prices for properties tend
to rise.
Subsequently the landlords start hiking the rent charges for their properties so as to match the
pockets of the new residents and this ends up forcing the original residents out of the area since
most are poor and disabled, and cannot manage to pay such rent for the properties they originally
occupied. Real Estate speculators then influence the residents to sell their homes usually at lower
prices to the wealthier people and some of these are either displaced to affordable neighborhoods,
different cities or some become entirely homeless