Tag Archive for Top 10 Cities

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 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.

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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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