But they are dependent on the outcome of the regulations, and whether they will encourage business projects. That activity has already paid off for incumbent landowners in Opportunity Zones, according to research by the real estate firm Zillow: Average sales prices in the zones jumped 25 percent last fall, compared with the year before. City officials welcomed the new hotel to Avondale, a majority-Hispanic city of 84,000 people that is still recovering from the burst housing bubble a decade ago. Conditions have improved, slowly, and developers have added 200,000 square feet of new retail space in the last five years, city officials said. But Kenn Weiss, the mayor, said the city still needed help — and real-estate development won’t do it alone.

Source: New York Times March 17, 2019 22:49 UTC