Opportunity Zone Magazine Volume 1, Issue 3

24 OPPORTUNITY ZONE MAGAZINE | VOLUME 1 • ISSUE 3 WHY NUMBERS SHOW OPPORTUNITY IN OPPORTUNITY ZONES OZs HAVE PLENTY OF LOCAL AMENITIES Finally, OZs are not without their fair share of local attractions and amenities. For instance, 4,300 OZs contain a park or recreation area, including 339 OZs have golf courses. Some 820 OZs have a shopping center, 688 OZs contain a college or university 5 . These types of amenities are drivers of long-term value creation and can serve as catalysts for rapid change. Overall, the locational attributes of OZs – strong employment options, high quality infrastructure, growing rent and income, local amenities, and plenty of young people – make OZs increasigly attractive investment locations. These locational strengths can help you be more confident about OZ investment for you and your partners. In the end, finding the right OZ to invest in will require some education about what these locations really are – not their perception but their reality. The reality is that there are a lot of positives about these places. It’s time we start letting people know. OZs are within 1 mile of a major highway, which benefits office and industrial businesses. Over 4,800 OZ tracts have rail access, either passenger or freight. And there are more than 9,000 transit stops – ferry, bus, and rail – within OZs, providing non-auto travel options for both residents and workers. Overall, the level of transportation More than half of all OZs are within 1 mile of a major highway, which benefits office and industrial businesses. access in OZs is better than non-OZ tracts. As more businesses and residents desire strong transportation access, OZ’s transportation benefits are positioned to be a strong attractor of growth and supporter of economic activity. OZs HAVE A LOT OF YOUNG PEOPLE OZs have a higher proportion of residents aged 18-34 than non-OZs. This cohort accounts for 27% of the population in OZs compared to only 23% elsewhere. Young people are much more likely to rent, and are attractors of entertainment, retail and food service businesses. Additionally, younger people generally have lower incomes but relatively more disposable income. So, while incomes in OZs are still low, perhaps purchasing power is a bit higher. Jeremy Goldstein, is a market analyst and the founder of Foundation residential real estate forecasts, a data service providing neighborhood-scale housing price forecasts. Goldstein also works with public and private sector clients on a range of market analyses, including regional population and employment forecasting, and business gap analyses. Goldstein writes regularly on issues related to Opportunity Zones and residential real estate. He is particularly interested in the potential for Opportunity Zones to tap the potential of traditionally underinvested communities throughout the U.S. Sources: 1 Rent and rent growth data from US Census American Community Survey, 2010 – 2018, https://data.census.gov/cedsci 2 Employment data from Census Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics Origin- Destination Employment Statistics, 2017, https://lehd.ces.census.gov/data/ 3 Income data from US Census American Community Survey, 2013-2018, https://data.census. gov/cedsci 4 Population and age data from US Census American Community Survey, 2013-2018, https:// data.census.gov/cedsci 5 Local attractions and amenities count are based on a geospatial analysis using ESRI landmarks dataset, https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=6ffa5cb05c3b4978bd96b8a4 b416ffa6 OPPORTUNITYZONE.COM

Opportunity Zone Magazine Volume 1, Issue 3 - Page 24