Opportunity Zones have been the talk of the real estate investor community for the better part of the last year, but given that the program is still so new, there's still lot of unknown about Opportunity Zones.
Created by the Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017, Opportunity Zones seek to spark economic development in distressed areas by encouraging long-term investments through significant tax breaks.
The image below highlights the top markets with the most opportunity zones:
(Image courtesy of RealPage; click to enlarge)
Unsurprisingly, a new report from RealPage shows that the markets with the most Opportunity Zones are large cities.
New York has the most Opportunity Zones, according to RealPage's study, with a whopping 403 Opportunity Zones. Of those, 124 are in Brooklyn alone.
The Manhattan borough has the lowest concentration of Opportunity Zones, RealPage said, but there is no shortage of them in the Bronx or Queens, either. All five boroughs, Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens, Manhattan and Staten Island, have the most Opportunity Zones in the state.
New York’s neighbor, Newark, New Jersey, ranked No. 7.
Phoenix, ranked No. 10, recently began building much needed three multi-family Opportunity Zones in its downtown area.
On the opposite coast, No. 2 Los Angeles has 274 Opportunity Zones, and No. 3 Chicago is next with 226 Opportunity Zones.
In Los Angeles, South Los Angeles is the home of the most Opportunity Zones. Mid-Wilshire, Hollywood, and Downtown Los Angeles have a combined 58 Opportunity Zones alone.
Los Angeles’ urban core is in the middle of an apartment boom. Since 2015, the urban core has made up for an average of 55% of the market’s total apartment construction volume, RealPage said. From 2011 to 2015, urban construction accounted for 42% of the market total.
