Cashman… In an economic downturn (recession – brutal recession?) that area is going to be ugly. Gentrification comes from a shortage of inventory at reasonable prices….
Coming from NYC, the “Alphabet City” area was about as nasty as it could get in the 70’s… The 80’s were still awful… 90’s and recently its a yuppified area – the vagrants were pushed out. Manhattan is a small brutally expensive market which has still seen price increases. LA isn’t the same deal.
The difference is that as the economy gets worse the potential gentrified areas stay stagnant and the investors don’t sink any more money in. A lot of people are left holding the bag. I believe that prices will go down for years – and the same potential buyers will spend their money on better areas which could hold value. Crime will start going up as jobs get cut. Always happens. I would hate to be in downtown LA over the next 10 years.