Areas of Gentrification

[Nick Rittmann]

Hey Bigger Pockets,

This question for you all is simple: How do you QUANTIFY areas of a city that are experiencing gentrification?

By that, what I mean is, what data points/sources of data, have you used in the past, or that you currently use, to help you identify a spot in town that is either experiencing gentrification, or is likely to experience gentrification.

This isn't question isn't meant to solicit anecdotal/qualitative responses like:

"I drive the same road every day and have watched the properties go from being shacks that are barely standing, to getting torn down and replaced by new apartment complexes" 

-OR- 

"whenever Starbucks builds a store in an area of town where most of the properties are eyesores, distressed, or are mostly rented out... if Starbucks is building a store in that area, I know it's going to be up-and-coming"

That type of advice may be beneficial for some, but much more circumstantial and prone to inaccuracy. Rather, what metrics, what trends in the data, what data points can be combined and/or aggregated have you used to really help you identify an area of a market that's undergoing gentrification, or has data/trends that are displaying a high probability of an area that is about to experience gentrification??

I (and our fellow investors) would love to hear any of your thoughts and insights you're willing to share!!

Thanks,

Nick Rittmann