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Averaging out home prices (median) does not help anyone. One look on Zillow and you will see their home prices and their numbers are all wrong. I look at my rental in santa ana and the whole block is selling for 100,000 less then Zillows estimate. CNN is putting forth the same crap.
One would think WOW... my house is worth that much !
are those listed prices or sold prices?
i see a lot of houses on the market for months if not years with the same high price
Median is a middle number. If 51 out 100 people earn 50K/yr, and 49 people get 500K/yr, you guessed it, the median is 50K. Who would've thought the median income of world famous NYC is almost the same with that of Arkon, Ohio? Something like that is perfectly possible w/ median. Zillow is bit overpriced and little slow to update.
That does not mean they are useless, it means they are less useful... or sometimes more useful than any other for some people w/ a certain purpose.
CNN doesn't specified where the numbers are came from. If we assume, those numbers are from a certain nationwidely accepted formula, and CNN pulled the numbers from city/government data, then we may able to assume a certain tendancy is there. You, readers, find it out as the way you see. :)
elliemae
2010 Feb 20, 1:31am
According to cnn article quoted:
Detroit
Median home price: $86,000
Median income: $57,100
Affordability score: 93.4%
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/16/detroits-unemployment-rat_n_394559.html
"The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated that for the year that ended in September, Michigan's official unemployment rate was 12.6 percent. Using the broadest definition of unemployment, the state unemployment rate was 20.9 percent, or 66 percent higher than the official rate. Since Detroit's official rate for October was 27 percent, that broader rate pushes the city's rate to as high as 44.8 percent."
Let's all move to Detroit! It's affordable, damnit!
HousingWatcher
2010 Feb 20, 11:25am
The problem with all of the "affordable" cities are that there are virtually no jobs there. The rust belt has no jobs. In fact, according to the mayor of Detroit, the unofficial unemployment rate there is 50%!The cities with the jobs are those on the unaffordable list.
Summary of CNN articles.
http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2010/real_estate/1002/gallery.most_and_least_affordable_markets/index.html
and
http://money.cnn.com/2010/02/17/real_estate/most_affordable_cities/index.htm
My experience told me that median is not the best index, and CNN is not the accurate source in the world though, I wonder those articles may tell you something to think about, so here you go.
5 most affortable cities.
Indianaplois
Median home price: $106,000
Median income: $68,100
Affordability score: 95.7%
Detroit
Median home price: $86,000
Median income: $57,100
Affordability score: 93.4%
Dayton, Ohio
Median home price: $106,400
Median income: $62,100
Affordability score: 93.2%
Youngtown, Ohio
Median home price: $76,000
Median income: $54,300
Affordability score: 93%
Arkon, Ohio
Median home price: $100,000
Median income: $65,000
Affordability score: 92.2%
5 least affordable cities.
New York City
Median home price: $425,000
Median income: $64,800
Affordability score: 19.7%
San Francisco
Median home price: $625,000
Median income: $96,800
Affordability score: 22.3%
Honolulu
Median home price: $450,000
Median income: $79,300
Affordability score: 33.8%
Santa Ana, California
Median home price: $435,000
Median income: $86,100
Affordability score: 34.5%
Los Angelis
Median home price: $320,000
Median income: $62,100
Affordability score: 36.8%