2006: U.S. Cities With Affordable Real Estate And Homes
April 12th, 2011 | 
Author: 2006: U.S. Cities With Affordable Real Estate And Homes
The price of housing is a major challenge in the United States. Some estimates note that more than 50 of the population cannot afford a median priced home. According to National Association of Home Builders NAHB of the total number of new and existing homes sold nationwide during the third quarter only 40.4 percent were affordable for families earning the median U.S. income of 59600.
But it is good news that housing affordability on the national level has not changed much in the third quarter in spite of a rise in the mortgage interest rates during the last quarter. This was because many markets saw a slight decrease in their home prices which helped offset the rise in mortgage rates.
Indianapolis Indiana is the most affordable city for homes in America based on the 2006 third quarter report of the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index HOI. The city achieved this status for the fifth consecutive quarter.
Of the total number of housing units sold in Indianapolis during the third quarter 86 percent of homes were priced at or below the U.S. median household income of 65100. Homes in this metro area had a median sales price of 122000 which is slightly higher from 120000 of the previous quarter.
It is interesting to note that the most affordable U.S. cities for homes condos and other real estate are largely from the northern industrial metro areas. The other larger cities that top the list for affordable homes in the third quarter after Indianapolis are YoungstownWarrenBoardman OhioPennsylvania; DetroitLivoniaDearborn Michigan; BuffaloNiagara Falls New York; and Grand Rapids and Wyoming Michigan.
The report also lists the top seven smaller cities in America that have the most affordable housing markets. These are: Bay City in Michigan Springfield in Ohio Mansfield in Ohio LansingEast Lansing in Michigan Lima in Ohio Battle Creek in Michigan and CantonMassillon in Ohio.
For both major metros and small metros many of the least affordable cities are located in California. The least affordable major metro areas are Santa AnaAnaheimIrvine Modesto Stockton and San DiegoCarlsbadSan Marcos in that order. The least affordable smaller metros less than 500000 people include: Salinas Merced Madera Napa and Santa BarbaraSanta Maria.
The good news for homebuyers is that there are many affordable cities in the United States. Moreover even for cities that rated poorly for affordability there may be some communities within the larger city that have affordable housing. For example although the San Diego metro in California rated poorly overall for affordability there are some communities in San Diego priced to meet the needs of lowerincome home buyers. A good real estate agent can help you choose a community where you want to live based on your housing budget and needs.
About the writer: Biaksh kumar is the contributing author to the http://www.indianrealtynews.com for distinct articles and news. Indian Realty newsprovides news on commercial and residential properties of various cities Delhi Gurgaon Mumbai Chandigarh and Bangalore Pune etc in India along with news on latest property investment finance and property loan and laws in India.
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