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Pricey homes? It could be much worse
Houses in the Tampa Bay area are a relative bargain compared with other parts of the country.
By Judy Stark, Times Homes and Garden Editor
Published October 6, 2007
What it would cost What would a four-bedroom, 2 1/2-bath home with family room in 2,200 square feet and a two-car garage cost across the country? San Francisco, $1,451,250
Atlanta, $324,000
New Orleans, $310,875
Philadelphia, $515,225
Chattanooga, Tenn., $230,451
Huntsville, Ala., $212,183
Grayling, Mich., $155,000
Tulsa, Okla., $153,750 Source: Coldwell Banker --- You think home prices around here are off the charts? Ha! A home for which you'd pay $349,000 in Clearwater would cost a whopping $2,206,883 in Beverly Hills, Calif., the most expensive market in Coldwell Banker's annual home price survey. On the other hand, if you're willing to live in Killeen, Texas, you could buy that house for $136,725. Killeen "regains its 2005 crown," Coldwell Banker says, as the nation's most affordable market. It was elbowed off the throne last year by Minot, N.D., which this year dropped to second place: Your home sweet home there will cost $139,033. Every year Coldwell Banker comes up with a "subject house": This year it's a four-bedroom, 21/2-bath home with 2,200 square feet, family room and two-car garage in a neighborhood full of corporate middle-management transferees. Then it surveys the markets where the company does business to see what that house would cost. This year it surveyed 317 of its U.S. markets and 77 outside the United States. The average price of that typical home in those domestic markets is $422,343. Florida doesn't do badly, compared with the rest of the world. The range is substantial: That typical house would cost $929,818 in Key West and $239,100 in Port Charlotte. Tampa falls somewhere in between at $350,000. The survey did not include every city in Florida. All the most expensive cities except two (Greenwich, Conn., and Boston) are in California. The survey doesn't include Manhattan because of the lack of comparable single-family homes there. The least expensive are in the nation's middle: Texas, Ohio, Kansas, Oklahoma. If you've been thinking of becoming an expatriate (offshoring yourself?), think again. The house that costs $349,000 in Clearwater costs $1.67-million in Paris, $1.35-million in Florence and $874,553 in Sydney. G'bye, mate! The average price of the home has dropped only 0.4 of 1 percent since 2006, when it was $423,950. Coldwell Banker says this reflects only homes matching the price index specifications and doesn't reflect overall market conditions. The Florida Association of Realtors reported recently that median single-family home prices in the Tampa Bay area fell 8 percent from August 2006 to August this year, from $232,400 to $214,100. Judy Stark can be reached at (727) 893-8446 or stark@sptimes.com. - - - To read more At www.coldwellbanker.com, click on the Home Price Comparison Index. Then click on "full data" to view the list of 317 domestic markets surveyed and see what the "subject home" costs there. Also on the comparison index page, you can fill in a form with the location and value of your home, then choose three cities and click to determine what your home would cost there.
[Last modified October 5, 2007, 11:46:45]
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by Lin
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10/06/07 11:57 AM
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Interesting, but instead of just comparing house prices for corporate execs who move with their salaries around the country, Iņ019d like a survey of how the average house price around the nation compares to the average median wage in each of those areas
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