What The Queens Real Estate Market Looks Like Right Now

Queens, NY: Photo by Harry Gillen

By Colin O'Leary
March 31st, 2022

The housing market in Queens is continuing its hot streak into 2022. Queens County, the second largest borough in NYC by population size, has a population of over 2,405,000 according to the 2020 census. That's up from around 2,200,000 people in 2010. Only Brooklyn (Kings County) has more people than Queens. To put things in perspective, if Queens were its own city, it would rank on the list of the top five largest cities in America.

Queens is one of the most culturally diverse places in the United States, with a foreign-born population of nearly 50%. With easy access to critical infrastructures such as highways, bridges, airports (JFK & LaGuardia), hospitals, schools, parks, beaches, and public transportation, it's no surprise people are choosing to live in Queens. The close proximity to Manhattan makes it a great place to live for the bridge & tunnel crowd. The property tax burden is also less for homeowners in Queens compared to nearby Nassau County making it a more affordable option. 

The pandemic barely made a dent in the hot housing market in Queens. Many people escaped more densely populated areas of the city to find space in more suburban parts of Queens. Like most parts of the city, home prices in Queens have risen drastically over the past decade. For example, the typical value of a home in Queens was around $460,000 in April of 2012, according to Zillow Home Value Price Index. Today the typical value of a home in Queens is closer to $750,000. That's a sizable 38% increase over the past decade. 

Queens is a large county that encompasses over 178 square miles. Homes tend to sell for more in the western part of the county which is closer to Manhattan. The architecture in Queens is just as diverse as the people. Queens has densely populated urban neighborhoods with large residential towers like Long Island City. It also has more suburban neighborhoods like Bayside and beachfront communities like the Rockaways. 

Some of the hottest neighborhoods in Queens right now are Long Island City, Astoria, Jackson Heights, Elmhurst, Ridgewood, Forest Hills, and Flushing. The market shows no signs of slowing down in Queens, where supply continues to be outpaced by fierce demand for homes, often leading to bidding wars on properties. Will rising interest rates, inflation, and the war in Ukraine eventually put a damper on the demand for homes in Queens? Only time will tell. 

​