Oct 5, 2010

The 10 Most Expensive Cities In The USA To Buy A Home

Only buy something that you'd be perfectly happy to hold if the market should shut down for 10 years.......

OK all.  While we were in the process of buying a place in Florida I did a little research on different properties and I came across an interesting article.

Here it is.....

According to the article,  Newport Beach, Calif., is the most expensive real-estate market in the country and Detroit is the most affordable.

The Coldwell Banker Home Listing Report looked at more than 18,000 four-bedroom, two-bathroom properties listed between February and August, in nearly 300 markets where the real-estate firm has a presence. The average listing price of the homes studied was $353,000, though there was a $1.7 million difference between the average price in the most expensive and most affordable markets.

The findings didn't produce many surprises: The most expensive markets can be found mainly in California and the Northeast, and the least expensive ones can be found in the Midwest.

 The 10 Most Expensive Cities to Buy a Home

People like the sun, they like the beaches, they like the mountains. [California] has been the land of opportunity.   It's one of the biggest economies in the world, and even its real-estate market has started to bounce back.
On the flip side, the middle of the country typically has more modest home prices. And cities like Detroit and Cleveland have been wrestling with depressed economies, bringing down home prices in those areas even more.

In Detroit, the average listing price is about $68,000. The monthly mortgage payment, including interest and principal, on a $68,000 home is $350.

The priciest cities

At the top of the list of most expensive markets is Newport Beach, the setting for many television shows, including "The O.C." and "Arrested Development," according to the Coldwell Banker news release. Five other California cities also made the list of the priciest markets.

Below are the most expensive cities, and their average listing prices, according to the report:

1. Newport Beach, Calif., $1.83 million

2. Palo Alto, Calif., $1.48 million

3. Rye, N.Y., $1.33 million

4. San Francisco, $1.33 million

5. La Jolla, Calif., $1.21 million

6. Greenwich, Conn., $1.20 million

7. Wellesley, Mass., $1.08 million
8. Pasadena, Calif., $1.04 million

9. Honolulu, $1.03 million
10. Santa Barbara, Calif., $1.02 million

I consider myself very fortunate because I have been to all of those cities in California with the exception of San Francisco which we plan to do sometime in the very near future.  California for me was a wonderful experience and I would highly recommend visiting that beautiful state....as you can tell by the pictures.


Most affordable cities

Nearly 30% of the markets studied had home prices that averaged $200,000 or less for a four-bedroom, two-bathroom home - a home size that some buyers may aspire to own, according to the report.

But average listing prices in the top 10 most affordable markets are much lower than that, with the average listing price in four of the cities below $100,000.

Right now the market is at one of it's lowest I have seen... yet for some reason it is so difficult to actually buy something......

Everyone says buying your first apartment makes you feel like an adult. What no one mentions is that selling it turns you right back into a child....

until next time....