Neighborhoods with the highest concentration of same-sex households appreciate in value more quickly than their surrounding metropolitan areas. That's according to a new study from Trulia.

Overall, home prices over the last three years have increased on average 23% in neighborhoods with high concentrations of male same-sex couples. They've increased 18% in neighborhoods with a high concentration of female same-sex couples.

Ralph McLaughlin, housing economist with Trulia, says, in general, neighborhoods with the largest number of gay persons in the U.S. tend to be more expensive and grow faster. “Gay couples tend to have higher disposable incomes,” he tells Yahoo Finance in the attached video. “Now that the economy is recovering, couples with higher incomes may be looking to locate in these neighborhoods because they tend to have higher amenities and tend to be located in more expensive and faster growing metropolitan areas.” That's driving demand.

Trulia, which is based in San Francisco and is owned and operated by Zillow (Z), used 2010 Census data to identify top gay neighborhoods in the U.S. and analyzed home prices there between 2012 and 2015. Many of the most gay-friendly neighborhoods in the U.S. are in some of the most expensive real estate markets.

Homes in the Castro neighborhood of San Francisco, for example, are going for $948 per square foot. That is 34% more expensive than the San Francisco metro area on the whole, the study found. In West Hollywood, California, homes are 123% more expensive relative to its metro area. Provincetown, Massachusetts is 119% more expensive.

In terms of growth over the past three years, six neighborhoods with large lesbian populations have outpaced their metro areas compared to just two of the neighborhoods popular with gay men. “Gay neighborhoods weren’t hit as hard during the recession as lesbian neighborhoods,” says McLaughlin. “So what we may be seeing is a rebound effect in lesbian neighborhoods over the last three years since the housing recovery has taken place.” McLaughlin points out that lesbian neighborhoods tend to be a little bit more family-friendly because, he says, lesbian couples in general tend to have more children than male couples. “So it could be now that the economy is getting better, [lesbians] may be looking to locate into traditional lesbian neighborhoods to start and raise their families.”

So what-- if any-- bearing would a ruling on same-sex marriage have on same-sex neighborhoods and home values? It's unclear, says McLaughlin. The Supreme Court will decide soon whether gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to marry or whether states can ban same-sex marriage. The court is looking at a consolidated six cases from Ohio, Michigan, Tennessee and Kentucky.

“We don’t exactly know what the effect might be. However, we can speculate,” says McLaughlin. “Traditionally, same-sex couples have actually gathered in enclaves across the country because being in a same-sex relationship wasn’t as socially accepted as it is now. A Supreme Court ruling is further evidence that gay marriage and gay couples and just in general homosexuality is becoming more socially acceptable.” If that is the case, says McLaughlin, there may not be as much of a reason for same-sex couples to live in existing gay neighborhoods.

“What we could see,” he says, “is actually a spreading out of concentrations of gay couples around the country.”

The Supreme Court's decision is expected some time this month. The court often issues its most high-profile and controversial rulings toward the end of its annual session.

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