The Midtown Direct Effect

The Wall Street Journal reports that certain New Jersey communities have seen housing prices recover faster than in other communities. Houses in good condition in bedroom communities with good public schools and short commutes to Manhattan are seeing housing prices rebound. Apparently, the Wall Street recovery is fueling the housing market boomlet.

Jeffrey Otteau of Otteau Valuation Group, a New Jersey appraisal firm, says that New Jersey towns with short, direct train rides to Manhattan outperformed the rest of the State during the first half of 2010. Says Otteau, "We have seen the effects of the Manhattan rebound in the market we describe as Midtown Direct," a corridor with direct commutes to Manhattan of 35 minutes or less.

I hope someone flags this information to the Christie advisors reviewing the ARC Tunnel. That project would create a new Midtown Direct corridor and increase property values -- it would create wealth.

I also hope someone flags this information to the Governor himself the next tome he discusses pulling money out of suburban school districts to send to private, parochial and charter schools. Good public school districts add to home value -- they create wealth.

I had a lot of time to ponder this information last night during my 2.5 hour commute (normally 35 minutes. Aging Amtrak infrastructure cannot handle the volume of traffic our economy requires. Doing nothing is not an option -- either we act affirmatively to improve the infrasrtucture or we react when that infrasrtucture crumbles beneath our feet.