Courtesy of: @JuhaOnTheRoad

Queens home prices have increased more than 10 percent for the first quarter of 2014 compared to first-quarter data for 2013, according to a report published by real estate firm Douglas Elliman. Major developers are redefining the typical Queens neighborhood. Queens communities that were once industrial and residential wildernesses that framed Manhattan's burgeoning landscape are turning into New York's yuppie hubs of the future. 

Long Island City is the premiere poster child for this sea change. Renters and buyers flock to this formerly semi-vacant terrain in droves, seeking magnificent views in Manhattan-comparable digs at lower-than prices. A steady increase in demand for dwindling inventory has sent prices through the roof. Meanwhile, residents seize cheaper, riper deals elsewhere, before demand stimulates higher prices and yet another migration. 

Telltale indicators for an eastward bound exodus have emerged. Queens communities, such as East Elmhurst, Ozone Park and Sunnyside, have been rezoned to accommodate a residential and commercial spillover. Starbucks and stores like it are spreading into communities like Crown Heights--in Brooklyn where mega-developers are rumored to be buying up cheap property east of the trendy Williamsburg area. 

An onslaught of international buyers have an insatiable appetite for New York real estate. June 2014 witnessed Long Island City's highest sale price for a Hunter's Point condo--a record $3.35 million. The price per square foot has increased for the remaining few Long Island City units as well as for cheaper-priced Astoria Queens units. Real estate news sites have tracked an influx of artists and new families trickling into Ridgewood--Queens' newest residential mecca, east of Brooklyn.