Opportunity Zone home prices still trending up in Forsyth

Opportunity Zones, launched in May 2018, are economically distressed census tracts qualified to receive private investments. The program was created by Congress and is designed to connect those tracts with investors by offering tax credits and other incentives.

All but one of the 11 Forsyth tracts is in the central part of Winston-Salem. They account for more than 25,000 residents. They are among 47 in the Triad and 252 statewide.

The Forsyth tracts reviewed by Attom Data for the second quarter are:

• Tract 2 in the central business district. The average home sale price was $335,000. It was the first price listing since $211,500 in the second quarter of 2022.
• Tract 3.01 in the Boston-Thurmond neighborhood. The average home sale price was $65,000. It was the first price listing since $52,500 in the first quarter of 2021.
• Tract 3.02 in the Kimberly Park neighborhood. The average home sale price was $92,725. It was the first price listing since $65,000 in the fourth quarter.
• Tract 8.02, which covers the Atkins Community Development Corp. The average home sale price was $152,250, compared with $65,000 in the first quarter and $99,250 a year ago.
• Tract 14, which contains Whitaker Park. The average home sale price was $140,000, compared with $135,639 in the first quarter and $150,000 a year ago. The campus is part of a high-profile renovation project being undertaken by Whitaker Park Development Authority and Cavalier Winston Development, an affiliate of Frye Properties of Norfolk, Va.
• Tract 16.02, which covers Smith Reynolds Airport and neighborhoods south of the airport. The average home sale price was $103,000 compared with $82,500 in the first quarter and $50,000 a year ago.
• Tract 17, which contains Lakeside Villas multifamily housing development. The average home sale price when the opportunity zone program began was $143,000. It has since fluctuated from a low of $55,000 in the third quarter of 2020 to $214,000 in the third quarter of 2022. It was $175.217 in the second quarter.
• Tract 33.13, which contains Horneytown Road. The average home sale price was $362,500, compared with $346,000 in the first quarter and $227.500 a year ago.

There are 12 tracts in Guilford County, along with four in Alamance, three each in Randolph, Rockingham, Surry and Wilkes, two in Davidson and one each in Alleghany, Ashe, Davie, Stokes, Watauga and Yadkin.

The certified “opportunity zones” list for North Carolina has at least one low-income census tract in each of the state’s 100 counties.

“The trickle-down impact of the extended housing market boom across the U.S. continues to uplift many neighborhoods in need, revealing their economic potential,” Attom chief executive Rob Barber said. “This pattern is especially evident in Opportunity Zones as house hunters priced out of more-expensive areas turn to places they can afford.”