Posted on 12/21/2006 9:57:51 AM PST by RockinRight
Indianapolis led all U.S. cities in housing affordability during the third quarter, according to a survey released Monday by Wells Fargo and the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). It was the fifth straight quarter that Indianapolis was the most affordable major housing market in the United States. Nationally, according to NAHB President David Pressly, 40.4 percent of all new and existing homes sold during the third quarter were affordable to families earning the median U.S. income of $59,600. That means more than half the nation had too little income to buy a median priced home. The NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index measures the percentage of homes sold in a given area that are affordable to families earning that area's median income. To be deemed affordable, housing expenses must be no more than 28 percent of income. Expenses include property taxes and insurance as well as the mortgage payment. Overall affordability changed little from the second quarter as higher mortgage rates offset slightly lower home prices and rising household income. Latest home prices In Indianapolis, 86 percent of the homes sold came in at or below what someone earning the city's median household income ($65,100) could afford to buy. In contrast, only 1.8 percent of all homes sold in Los Angeles were affordable to those earning $56,200, the median household income there. Among large cities, northern industrial metro areas dominated the most affordable list with Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, Ohio-Pennsylvania, Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, Michigan, Buffalo-Niagara Falls, New York and Grand Rapids-Wyoming, Michigan all near the top. Small cities that were big in affordability included Springfield, Ohio, Mansfield, Ohio, Lansing-East Lansing, Michigan, Lima, Ohio, Battle Creek, Michigan and Canton-Massillon, Ohio. CA monopolized the bottom of the list with Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine, Modesto, Stockton, and San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos the least affordable big cities.
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
Still a good hour and a half though isn't it?
paragraphs!
Lowering taxes, decreasing regulations, and ending union shop rules would do wonders for the Rust Belt economy. However, the last election cycle saw Democrats making gains in the governorships of Ohio and New York, as well as winning one house of the Pennsylvania legislatures. The stagnation of the region will continue. As one poster put it recently, going through upstate New York is like taking a time warp back to 1970, with strings of "Pottersvilles" (after the "dark side" alternate Bedford Falls in the movie, It's A Wonderful Life.)
Youngstown? Who the heck would want to live there? lol
The ability of a secured lender to foreclose on its mortgage would tend to keep the cost of financing down. Deadbeats who finance a house purchase on a 100% mortage and then never make a payment but live there for years before the caring civil court system finally allows foreclose create a cost which the rest of the market has to bear.
Not me.
If I HAD to live anywhere near Youngstown, it would be Canfield. Nice little town.
And depending on how you drive, it can be less. ;)
If people would live on the south side or 'suburbs' of Mansfield, they could be downtown Columbus in an hour.
I think that's what they're doing.
Never been ther, but I'll take your word for it.
ther=there
Youll see the same thing in the Youngstown area.
Plenty of well to do folks and tons of folks that cant get a job over 10 bucks an hour even though they have skills and education.
And neither is anything like Youngstown.
You can buy a very nice house in Lima for $60-$70,000. Even the McMansions come in under $500,000.
With respect, that's poppycock! :-)
I've lived in seven different states, including some of the most costly zip codes in the U.S., and two foreign countries, but I chose the Texas Gulf Coast near Houston for retirement.
You will not find more friendly, helpful people anywhere, in my opinion. Your friends and neighbors are most important for good living, not necessarily your address.
Poland's not bad either.
Although Traficant is from there.
All true, but keep in mind in LA you can get a job all day long...but good luck affording ANYWHERE to live on what they'll pay you. Akron actually has HIGHER average income than LA.
Of course, Traficant would be an aberration from reality pretty much anywhere. :)
I wish Poland would have stayed like it used to be. When 224 was widened, they tore up a lot of the charm of the colonial (1796), Connecticut Land Company, Town One Range One, Western Reserve charm of the town.
They tore down a beautiful Victorian mansion and put a Burger Chef in its place.
It's never been quite the same since.
Resell growth means nothing if you can't afford to buy in the first place. (In the expensive markets)
Look at the data and you will see the median income is much better than the rest of the so-called 'rust-belt.'
The reasons for being on top of the list of affordability:
1. Decent incomes.
2. Indianpolis metro area sprawls in all directions - lots of home building in the last 10 years with zero-down loans and higher property taxes left a lot of people going into forclosure (usually because of a divorce - NOT loss of job).
3. Lot of old neighborhoods - with some crummy housing. Some of these neighborhoods are rebounding, others are basket-cases that drive down the metro average.
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