Forbes reported Friday (HT: WorldNetDaily) on the most overpriced and least overpriced housing markets in the country.
No matter the locale, its denizens almost always gripe about the stiff cost of living, housing and doing business. But in some places the financial pain is clearly more acute than others.
Take San Diego. A slumping housing market, where only 5% of residents can afford the median home, and a high price-to-earnings ratio made the oceanfront city our most overpriced real estate market. Had weather been included as a statistical measurement, there's no doubt San Diego would have avoided our list of top 10 most overpriced cities--but we didn't factor in sunshine.
So, San Diego is the big loser as the Number 1 Most Overpriced Real Estate Market. Here's the slideshow of the Top Ten offending markets. For those who don't have time to view the slideshow, the top five are:
1. San Diego, CA
2. Miami, FL
3. Sacramento, CA
4. San Francisco, CA
5. Washington, DC
Forbes also ranked the Top Ten Least Overpriced Real Estates Markets, but that must not be headline material. Here's the slideshow for the Top Ten best markets. The top five are:
1. Charlotte, NC
2. Austin, TX
3. Raleigh, NC
4. Detroit, MI
5. St. Louis, MO
In addition to the overpriced factor, the report also looks at affordability, though Forbes didn't give a tidy list for this factor.
[T]he affordability score is the percent of the population who can afford to buy the median-priced home, assuming a 6% mortgage rate. In a city like Los Angeles, No. 4 on the list [of house price-to-earnings ratio], a wee 2% of homes are affordable for residents pulling down a median income.
That makes Los Angeles (Number 8 on the Most Overpriced list) the least affordable place to live in the country.
The most affordable? That would be Indianapolis (Number 9 on the Least Overpriced list).
I've been thinking about where I'll look for a job, once I finish training for a medical career, and my plan to look outside California has been bolstered by this list. Every major metropolitan area in California is on the Worst list.
4 comments:
Indiana, in general, is a pretty reasonable place to live, minus the crazy gas prices.
I'd be curious to know what the crime stats are for the highest/lowest priced housing markets. I'm thinking Detroit isn't the safest place in the world...
Christina,
I'm with you. I don't care how affordable Detroit is, I'm not going there.
I can tell you the gas prices around here, if it will make you feel better...
Have you narrowed it down to at least a few states or cities for your relocation?
I didn't see any Ohio cities on those lists. The housing prices in Columbus are low, I would say under valued vs. the Cleveland area I just moved from. The house I just purchased here for 135 grand would have cost at least 180 in the same neighborhood up north.
By the same token, I made 40 grand on the house, I owned for 9 years, when it sold. The boys who sold us this house lost 10 grand, they owned it for 9 years.
Janice,
Ohio cities must be somewhere in the nebulous middle.
For relocation, I really liked Indianapolis when I was there this past November. I cried when I left. The affordability is a real plus, too.
But I'd consider Kalispell, Montana (right next to Glacier National Park), or Spokane, Washington, or even Missoula or Bozeman, Montana. Then again, my mom and I may come across some new (to me) wonderful place on our trip.
And if I can't find a job in anyplace with seasons, I might look in Abilene, Texas, to be near my mom and my sister. But I just don't want to start talking funny (I pick up accents pretty quickly, and not on purpose), so Texas is pretty far down on the list.
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