Archive for The Lists

Center for Housing Policy – Boise, Idaho

December 15, 2011 / Jon Wardle / No comments

I previously summarized the Center for Housing Policy’s Paycheck to Paycheck report which reviewed housing affordability across 200 markets, with 1 being the most expensive and 200 being the least expensive.  My original post can be found here.  

The Center for Housing Policy collected data points from the National Homebuilders Association, US Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Salary.com

Below summarizes Boise, Idaho specific data:

  • Homeownership 3Q 2011 Median Price:  $148,000 (Metro Ranking of 104).  This places Boise in the middle of the data points of most to least expensive homeownership markets.  This includes new and existing sales.
  • Homeownership Affordability Index:  24 (Metro Ranking of 93).  This means 24 out of 74 occupations(or just 32%) earn enough to afford a median priced home as of 3Q 2011.
  • Rents of a 2 Bedroom Apartment 3Q 2011 Median Rent:  $702 (Metro Ranking of 164).
  • Rental Affordability Index:  52 (Metro Ranking of 154).  This means 52 out of 74 occupations (or 70%) earn enough to afford a 2 Bedroom apartment in Boise.
  • Qualifying Income needed to purchase a Median Priced Home:  $42,698 (Metro Ranking of 172).  In 4Q 2009 a similar study was done.  At that time the median priced home was $163,000, and the qualifying income was $48,657.  There has been a -12.25% decrease in qualifying income.

Here are a couple of additional graphics that I was able to extract from the website.

This Chart compares the income of seasonal retail jobs to the annual income needed to purchase a median priced home:

 

This Chart compares the income of five pre-selected occupations (out of a list of 74) to the annual income needed to purchase a median priced home:

 

One other tool that I haven’t shown allows you to select an occupation, and compare the median salary across three markets.  The report provides median home price, income needed to purchase a home, and the median salary for the occupation across all three markets.  The site can be found here.

 

    Category: Real Estate, The Lists / Tags: , , ,

    QH – Center for Housing Policy: 2011 Home Prices & Rents in 200 MSAs

    December 15, 2011 / Jon Wardle / One comment

    The Center for Housing Policy just released their 2011 Paycheck to Paycheck Report.  In the report, they detail:

    • How workers fare in the housing market (for sale and rental)
    • Housing affordability for working families in various occupations

    They also provide some templates on how certain occupations match up with the needed income to achieve the median home price in each MSA. The data points were collected from the National Homebuilders Association, US Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Salary.com

    The Most to Least Expensive Homeownership Markets can be found here.

    The Top 10 Most Expensive Homeownership Markets with Q3 2011 Prices are:

    1.  San Francisco, CA: $585,000
    2.  New York, NY: $450,000
    3.  San Jose, CA: $443,000
    4.  Honolulu, HI: $425,000
    5.  Santa Ana, CA: $405,000
    6.  Santa Cruz, CA: $395,000
    7.  Bridgeport, CT: $390,000
    8.  Suffolk-Nassau, NY: $378,000
    9.  Cambridge, MA: $370,000
    10. Ocean City, NJ: $353,000

    The Least 10 Expensive Homeownership Markets with Q3 2011 Prices are:

    200.  Battle Creek, MI: $85,000
    200.  Flint, MI: $85,000
    202.  Wheeling, WV: $84,000
    203.  Lima, OH: $83,000
    203.  Saginaw, MI: $83,000
    203.  Springfield, OH: $83,000
    206.  Bay City, MI: $82,000
    207.  Ocala, FL: $80,000
    207.  Toledo, OH: $80,000
    209.  Youngstown, OH: $77,000

    The Center for Housing Policy also reviewed data for rental affordability. They compared 2 Bedroom rentals across all markets. The Most to Least Expensive Rental Markets can be found here.

    Obviously, their are some market overlaps when you compare affordability of rentals to affordability of homeownership.

    Here are the Top 10 Most Expensive Rental markets (Cities in BOLD are also in the Top 10 Most Expensive Homeownership Markets):

    1.  San Francisco, CA: $1,833
    2.  Santa Cruz, CA: $1,730
    3.  Honolulu, HI: $1,702
    3.  San Jose, CA: $1,702
    5.  Suffolk-Nassau, NY: $1,661
    6.  Santa Ana, CA: $1,584
    7.  Oxnard, CA: $1,527
    8.  Los Angeles, CA: $1,465
    9.  Bethesda, MD: $1,461
    9.  Washington, DC: $1,461

    Category: QH - Quick Hits, Real Estate, The Lists / Tags: , ,

    Top 10 – Where does your homebuying dollar go farthest?

    December 14, 2011 / Jon Wardle / No comments

    Where does your dollar go farthest when buying a home?  CNBC compiled a slide show based on data Zillow.com

    The data is summarized below:

    1.  Ocala, FL.  Value per sq. ft.:  $50.  Average home size:  1,615 sq. ft.  Zillow Home Value Index:  $85,200

    2.  Lakeland, FL.  Value per sq. ft.:  $52.  Average home size:  1,666 sq. ft. Zillow Home Value Index:  $89,100

    3.  Spartanburg, SC.  Value per sq. ft.:  $56.  Average home size:  1,678 sq. ft.  Zillow Home Value Index:  $98,800

    4.  Mobile, AL.  Value per sq. ft.:  $57.  Average home size:  1,803 sq. ft.  Zillow Home Value Index:  $78,200

    5.  Detroit, MI.  Value per sq. ft.:  $59.  Average home size:  1,604 sq. ft.  Zillow Home Value Index:  $72,900

    6.  (Tied) Atlanta, GA.  Value per sq. ft.:  $60.  Average home size:  2,128 sq. ft.  Zillow Home Value Index:  $109,700

    6.  (Tied) Memphis, TN.  Value per sq. ft.:  $60.  Average home size:  1,882 sq. ft.  Zillow Home Value Index:  $95,400

    8.  (Tied) Canton, OH.  Value per sq. ft.:  $61.  Average home size:  1,634 sq. ft.  Zillow Home Value Index:  $88,900

    8.  (Tied) Augusta, GA.  Value per sq. ft.:  $61.  Average home size:  1756 sq. ft.  Zillow Home Value Index:  $84,600

    10.  Toledo, OH.  Value per sq. ft.:  $62.  Average home size:  1,652 sq. ft.  Zillow Home Value Index:  $86,700

    Category: Real Estate, The Lists / Tags: , ,

    Where does your City rank for Business?

    December 14, 2011 / Jon Wardle / No comments

    In Russ Britt’s column in Market Watch, he ranks 102 metro areas on the best business communities in 2011.  The article stated that the “analysis covers an array of measures meant to gauge how much business is concentrated in a region and whether those companies are helping its local economy to grow.”

    The Top 10 Cities were:

    1. Washington DC
    2. Boston, MA
    3. Des Moines, IA
    4. Minneapolis, MN
    5. Omaha, NE
    6. Oklahoma City, OK
    7. Salt Lake City, UT
    8. Austin, TX
    9. New York, NY
    10. San Antonio, TX

    The Bottom 10 Cities were:

    93.          Lakeland, FL
    94.          Cape Coral, FL
    95.          North Port, FL
    96.          Dayton, OH
    97.          Modesto, CA
    98.          Youngstown, OH
    99.          Sacramento, CA
    100.        Fresno, CA
    101.        Riverside, CA
    102.        Stockton, CA

    The full list can be found here.

    Market Watch’s criteria included two major Headings of Company Concentration and Economic Stability:

    COMPANY CONCENTRATION

    1. Per-capital sales volume, based on revenue of S&P 500 companies in a metro area, divided by the population.
    2. Per-capita sales for Fortune 500 companies in the area.
    3. Per-capita sales for Forbes Private Companies in the area.
    4. Number of Russell 2000 companies per capita in a metro area. (For those cities with no S&P, Fortune 500, Forbes or Russell companies, the largest metro area with a zero total in those categories finishes last.)
    5. Census Bureau data from 2009 — the most recent available — measuring the number of companies, annual payroll and number of employees, all per capita, in a metro area.

    ECONOMIC STABILITY

    1. Population growth, from Census Bureau data, 2000 to 2010.
    2. Per capita metro economic output, from Bureau of Economic Analysis data, 2010.
    3. Growth in economic output, from Bureau of Economic Analysis data, 2007 to 2010.
    4. Personal income growth, from Bureau of Economic Analysis data, 2000 to 2010.
    5. Personal income growth, from Bureau of Economic Analysis data, 2009 to 2010.
    6. Unemployment rates, from Bureau of Labor Statistics data, for August 2011
    7. Cumulative metro unemployment rates, from Bureau of Labor Statistics data, for August 2003, August 2007 and August 2011.
    8. Job growth measured against population growth from Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics data, 2005 to 2010.

    The methodology can be found here.

     

    Category: The Lists / Tags: , ,

    Real Estate Headlines

    November 11, 2011 / Jon Wardle / No comments

    This week, I saw several articles that identified some current trends in Real Estate.

    Article No. 1:  In an article by Wendell Cox, NewGeography.com, Domestic Migration: Returning to Normalcy?, he reviewed the American Community Survey data, and Census Data.  In summary, in 2010:

    Stock up:  Texas, Florida, North Carolina and Arizona

    Stock Down:  California, New York and Illinois

    The best quote of the article:  “It is premature to suggest any long-term judgments on these early data. However, it would not be surprising to see the states with the highest costs of living (driven by high housing costs) and the least friendly business climates to lose domestic migrants to states with lower costs of living and more friendly business environments.”

     

    Article No. 2:  In an article in 247WallStreet.com, they author’s highlight 10 markets with new, significant foreclosures.  Skyrocketing Foreclosures (Rank, City, Q3 11 increase in Foreclosures).

    1. No. 1:  Albuquerque, New Mexico, +151% Q3 2011
    2. No. 2:  Boston, Massachusetts, +67% Q3 2011
    3. No. 3: Sarasota / Bradenton, Florida, +57% Q3 2011
    4. No. 4: Cincinnati, Ohio / Kentucky / Indiana, +55% Q3 2011
    5. No. 5: Jacksonville, Florida, +49% Q3 2011
    6. No. 6: Palm Bay / Melbourne / Titusville, Florida, +44% Q3 2011
    7. No. 7:  Fresno, California, +41% Q3 2011
    8. No. 8:  Vallejo / Fairfield, California, +35% Q3 2011
    9. No. 9:  Cape Coral / Ft. Myers, Florida, +35% Q3 2011
    10. No. 10:  Columbus, Ohio,  +32% Q3 2011

     

    Article No. 3:  Home prices Weigh down 75% of housing markets.  In an Alan Zibel article in WSJ.com, he extrapolated 3Q 2011 data showing that housing prices had fallen in 111 of 150 Metro Areas; a less flattering way to put it:  Values down in 75% of the markets.  Not a very good data point.

     

    Stock Up:  Grand Rapids, Mich. (23.7%), South Bend, Ind. (19.8%), Palm Bay-Melbourne, Fla. (17.7%) and Youngstown, Ohio. (13.1%).

    Stock Down:  Mobile, Ala. (-17.7%), Phoenix, Ariz. (-17.6%), Allentown, Pa. (-17.5%) and Salt Lake City (-15.3%)

     

    One final commentary … In Q3 2011 Melbourne, Florida, saw a 44% increase in Foreclosures, and a 17.7% increase in housing values.  This seems like a very unlikely scenario.  At the very least, I would opine that if future foreclosures continue to rise or remain similar to Q3 2011, Melbourne will see a dip in future home values.

    Category: Real Estate, The Lists / Tags: , , , , , ,

    Top 10 – Markets to Recover and Continue to Collapse

    November 3, 2011 / Jon Wardle / No comments

    Just think of this article as a comparison on the Good and the Bad.  In two articles in 24/7 Wall Street, writers Charles Stockdale and Michael Sauter respectively look at the housing markets poised to recover and those that will continue to struggle.

    Both articles based their research from Fiserv data.  Please note that these are their projections of what will happen over the next 18 months.

    Here’s a comparison map of both Recovery and Struggle:

    Road to Recovery – Charles Stockdale.  These are ranked by the expected percentage change in housing prices from 2011 Q2 to 2012 Q2

    1. Madera, CA:  15.5%
    2. Carson City, NV:   15.5%
    3. Yuma, AZ:  9.5%
    4. Yuba City, CA:  9.2%
    5. Farmington, NM:  8.3%
    6. St. George, UT:  7.9%
    7. Niles, MI:  7.5%
    8. Las Cruces, NM:  7.5%
    9. Syracuse, NY:  7.0%
    10. Mobile, AL:  6.2%

     

    Struggles Persist – Michael Sauter

    1. Naples, FL:  -18.6%
    2. Las Vegas, NV:  -15.9%
    3. Riverside, CA:  -14.8%
    4. Miami, FL:  -13.5%
    5. Salinas, CA:  -13.0%
    6. Cape Coral, FL:  -12.2%
    7. Crestview, FL:  -11.9%
    8. Orlando, FL:  -11.4%
    9. Bethesda, MD:  -11.3%
    10. Merced, CA:  -11.2%

    Florida continues to look bleak, and California is a mixed bag.

    Category: Real Estate, The Lists / Tags: , , ,

    Top 10 College Towns … For Buying Foreclosures

    September 13, 2011 / Jon Wardle / No comments

    I recently read this article Top 10 College Towns … for Buying Foreclosures, by Joel Cone, Foreclosure News Report. Based on their data, they found that the following College Towns were also good places to buy foreclosures. The list is as follows:

    • Stanford University – Palo Alto, CA
    • Ohio State University – Columbus, OH
    • University of Louisville – Louisville, KY
    • Northwestern University – Evanston, IL
    • Louisiana State Univeristy – Baton Rouge, LA
    • University of Arizona – Tuscon, AZ
    • University of Tennessee – Knoxville, TN
    • Florida State University – Tallahassee, FL
    • Texas Tech University – Lubbock, TX
    • University of Michigan – Ann Arbor, MI

    Average % Discount

    The article went on to say that foreclosures in these towns offered a 44% discount, and provided buyers with an endless pool of renters.

    Category: Real Estate, The Lists / Tags: , , ,

    Top 25 Recession Proof Cities for Real Estate

    August 19, 2011 / Jon Wardle / No comments

    Morgan Brennan, Forbes.com, published on August 16, 2011, a list of Top 25 Recession Resistant Cities for Real Estate.  The basis of the ranking was for recent increases in real estate values in 25 cities.  This isn’t to say that the economy is rebounding in those cities.  But rather, real estate seems to be showing some positive signs.

    1. Bay City, Michigan
    2. Fort Myers, Florida
    3. Pueblo, Colorado
    4. Spokane, Washington
    5. Pittsburg, Pennsylvania
    6. Port St. Lucie, Florida
    7. Sarasota, Florida
    8. Jacksonville, North Carolina
    9. State College, Pennsylvania
    10. Destin, Florida
    11. Battle Creek, Michigan
    12. Springfield, Massachusetts
    13. Boulder, Colorado
    14. Fort Collins, Colorado
    15. Nashville, Tennessee
    16. Champaign-Urbana, Illinois
    17. Greenville, South Carolina
    18. Punta Gorda, Florida
    19. Pensacola, Florida
    20. Durham, North Carolina
    21. Knoxville, Tennessee
    22. El Centro, California
    23. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
    24. Washington, D.C.
    25. Bend, Oregon

    Now, I’m a visual learner.  So I took the Forbes Top 25 data and overlaid the Top 25 Metro areas in Google Maps.

    The only cities that overlap both lists are:  Pittsburg (Forbes No. 5 and MSA No. 22) and Washington, DC (Forbes No. 24, and MSA No. 7).  Boulder and Denver are close, but not the same.

    Florida has 7 cities in Forbes Top 25.  Colorado, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and  the combination of North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, all have multiple cities in close proximity.   One notable state without any cities in Forbes Top 25:  TEXAS.

    These lists come and go, but it is interesting none-the-less to take current data and see what the trends show us today.

     

    Category: Real Estate, The Lists / Tags: , , ,

    Best Places to Live

    August 17, 2011 / Jon Wardle / No comments

    Now, I’ve never heard of Relocate America, but my interest was piqued when they posted their 2011 Top Places to Live.

    The criteria used to determine the Top 100 cities included:

    • positioned for economic recovery
    • experiencing strong economic recovery
    • proven overall economic stability

    Other factors were employment, education, community leadership and overall quality of life.

    The 2011 Top 10 Cities:

    1. Austin, Texas
    2. Grand Rapid, Michigan
    3. Boulder, Colorado
    4. Raleigh, North Carolina
    5. Dallas, Texas
    6. Greenville, South Carolina
    7. Augusta, Georgia
    8. Boise, Idaho
    9. Omaha, Nebraska
    10. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

    Now, if your city wasn’t in the Top 10, don’t fret.  Relocate America has listed a total of 100 Top Cities, and is inviting visitors to vote for the “Top 10 Places to Play.”  So go, and vote!

    Category: The Lists / Tags: ,
     
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