In the 4 years I have owned my condo it has doubled in value, to judge from sales in the building.
I basically hate thinking about property values, it seems like the object of satire. Yet if you have a good bit of money (life) tied up in a home, property values unfortunately matter.
That is one virtue(of many) of city living. Crime is really the only thing that can throw a big wrench in the equation. When I lived at Venice Beach I didn't worry that my modest investment could be lost. At my back was a whole city of affluent voters many of whom would prefer to live at the Pacific in the clean air and hipster vibe of Venice, and still be close to Century City and Santa Monica and other places where well paid people work. I figured, correctly in this case, that once suitably motivated, police could stop the bad behavior that annoyed well-to-do and politically influential people and that beautiful things would find their natural owners, the rich.
The same is true where I now live. This is an affluent city, and no matter how idiotic our socialist officials may be, good property within 1 mile of downtown CBD cannot be long term cheap.
Some suburbs have this trait, but not many. Just one more exit on the freeway and everything is new and clean and socially non-scary once more. Also big city police are better at shutting down some outrages than some suburb that is beginning to get worn.
Ha