(New Haven-WTNH, Jan. 10, 2006 6:20 PM) _ If you want to live in Downtown New Haven you're going to have to come up with some serious cash.

Luxury apartments are moving in but are people paying the price?

by News Channel 8's Darren Duarte
Downtown New Haven has become a Realtor's dream in recent years because of a high demand for luxury housing.

"There's a pretty steady supply of Yale graduate students, interns, visiting professors and people who want to live in walking distance of the university and have the budget to pay for luxury rental housing," says Barbara Pearce, H. Pearce Co. Realtors.

Though expensive to build more and more luxury apartments and condos are coming on the market.

City leaders were concerned that an abundance of upscale housing might lead to a glut of overpriced apartments downtown.

But that doesn't appear to be the case. There's only one vacancy here at the center point apartments located here at Church and Chapel streets.

So what about people who cannot afford to pay for high end housing? Board of Alderman President Carl Goldfield says affordable housing is a necessity.

"We don't want a downtown that becomes totally homogenous," says Goldfield. "We want a place that everyone in the city feels like they have an opportunity if they want to live downtown to come on down here. We don't want to be in a situation where we're developing solely luxury housing for wealthy people."

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http://www.newschannel8.com/Global/story.asp?S=4345793