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 hate Peyton Manning though.
My oldest son went to Rice University. I visited him several times while he was in school. The people of Houston are very nice as you stated. I couldn't stand the Gulf Coast weather. I am a 4th generation AZ desert rat and have a difficult time with the humidity. You also have Shelia Jackson-Lee as your Congresscritter. Here in NM, we have our crosses to bear with Bill Richardson and Jeff Bingaman.
Actually, you must take a look at where the boomers want to live once they retire, if you want to predict which states will do well in the next 15 years.
I think both Southern and Western States will do fine.
And those states in New England and the Midwest will continue to witness a stalled or reduced population.
LOL...Me too.
The INLAND West will do well. Coastal might have problems since there just aren't THAT MANY people who, in retirement, can buy a $700,000 house.
#9 and #10 on the "most affordable major metro areas" are Akron, OH and Rochester, NY. My wife is from Akron and I'm a Rochester native. We moved back to Rachahca in the early 80's because the job market was better. Housing is cheap compared to other areas, but property taxes and other state taxes are high. Also, we've taken some big hits in the job market with Kodak's demise. My wife and I plan on staying here. I hope our kids stay. Our daughter has a good job here and our sons are still in college and high school. I hope that they can find good jobs in the area when they're done with school. I do like Upstate New York and I have a ton of ties in Rochester.
I'm in Akron.
This is true. I know many people that moved away from here but moved back because they can get a lot better house for the money. There are a lot of forclosures. Much of that has been due to job loss and not buying the homes at fixed rates.
Ah, that makes perfect sense to me. I also spent many years in dry climates and found the humidity of the Texas Gulf Coast initially shocking. I became acclimated after three or four years and now find it uncomfortable in high altitude, dry climates (problems with dry skin, sore throat, cough, etc.)
"You also have Shelia Jackson-Lee as your Congresscritter."
No doubt, she is a raving lunatic liberal! Although I love the people of Houston, I would never live in Queen Sheila's district (TX CD-18).
For the poor souls who are forced to be represented by her, Mark Twain's famous description of Texas applies.
Paraphrasing Twain for the sake of accuracy, today he would say: "If I owned both Hell and Texas CD-18, I'd live in Hell and rent out Texas CD-18."
We almost moved to Akron. Back during the Christmas of 1982, we went to Akron (from Denver) to visit my wife's family (her Mom and Dad lived in Kenmore) and to look for work. The folks at Ohio Job Services recommended that we stay in Denver! :-) You're in Akron, so you know how tough things were back then when the tire and rubber companies were moving out. I liked Akron, but back in the early 80's, Rochester was doing better for jobs, so we ended up here.
I have relatives who live on the West Side of Youngstown, in a 3-BR, 2-Bath ranch with a large back yard and screened in porch. The house is about 40 years old and in pristine shape. Only flaw is no A/C and its location: inside Youngstown, but in the nicest part of the city. Market value (drum roll): $ 80,000. Similar house in a similar neigborhood in Washington DC would cost $ 350,000.
You be quiet now. We don't want people moving here. I live in Noblesville and work in NE Indianapolis.
We tell all our friends back in Kalifornia how terrible the weather is, how bad the shopping is, etc. We don't any more following us.
I've lived her 3 years and love it.
I was 5 in '82. :-D My parents had some tough times though.
May be relocating, but due to marriage not anything else. She lives in N. VA. Can't keep the long-distance thing going after marriage!
And your house probably cost 1/4 what it would in Kalifornia.
Here in Michigan we prefer the term "Fresh Water Belt" - since we have more fresh water than anyplace on the planet. The thirsty Southwest will soon be known as the "Dry as Dust Belt".
"Honda is building a very large assembly complex in east-central Indiana."
The business friendly part is right. What other reason would Honda, with all its suppliers right here in Ohio, their back yard, open another plant in Indiana?
Yup, marriage was the motivator that moved me out of Denver! I really liked Denver and Colorado, but my wife wanted to be closer to her family. It would have been Akron if it weren't for the job situation in the early 80's. Before I got together with my wife, I swore I'd never come back and live in Rochester... 23 years later and we're still living here! :-)
I'm going to have a newer, cozy one bed/one bath vacation home for sale in the spring. It's on a large wooded lot within easy walking distance of the ocean, golf course and swimming pool.
It's midway between Vancouver, BC and Seattle, WA.
I'm asking $125,000.
the tradeoff is that you have to live in Ohio.
Which is not nearly as luxurious as, say, beautiful, sunny, conservative, cheap Massachusetts.
;-)
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