Tuesday, November 12, 2013

America's Most and Least Expensive Real Estate Markets

Coldwell Banker Real Estate recently released its 2013 Home Listing Report which compares the prices of four-bedroom, two-bathroom homes in a total of 1997 real estate markets and 52,000 listings across the United States.  The nationwide average listing price for a four-bedroom, two-bathroom home was $301,414, up from $292,152 in 2012, not terribly surprising given that the real estate market is on a tear in some parts of America.

California has the distinction of holding 13 of the top 25 spots and the top five most expensive real estate markets in the United States as shown on this chart:


Malibu comes in number one as the most expensive place to buy a home in the United States with an average four-bedroom, two-bathroom home listing for a whopping $2,155,900, taking over from Los Altos who took the number one spot in 2012 with homes listing for an average of $1,706,688.  Apparently, people really are willing to pay a premium to live on a fault line as discussed in this article and as shown on this diagram:


Pardon my geological wandering.  I guess it's part of my nature.

Let's get back to Coldwell Banker's report.  Here is a chart showing the top 25 spots for the least expensive real estate markets in the United States:


In contrast to California, the now de-industrialized U.S. Midwest has 15 of the nation's 25 least expensive real estate markets with Cleveland, Ohio having the least expensive four-bedroom, two-bathroom homes listing for an average price of only $63,729.  Cleveland took over from last year's least expensive market Redford, Michigan where an average home listed for a very affordable $60,490.


To put the least and most expensive markets into context, for the price of an average four-bedroom, two-bathroom home in Malibu, a buyer could purchase 33.8 four-bedroom homes in Cleveland!  Ah, but then, you'd miss out on all of the excitement of feeling the ground shake as you await that tsunami while looking out the windows of your beachfront home.

5 comments:

  1. Hi… i read your article. Thanks for sharing this topics about Real Estate. I am waiting for your next article. So keep posting………..

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  2. This post is very helpful. I can see future in my Biltmore Square Condos business as i continue to be enlightened by the posts in this blog.

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  3. Places with fault lines tend to have the most dramatic scenery :)

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  4. Pointing out fault lines is a sign of writer envy. Cleveland and Redford, Michigan don't have any fault lines so maybe we should all go there? Really?

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  5. I notice that Los Altos is not even on the new list yet was number one in 2012. This tells me the data is too selective. Maybe since it is just Coldwell Banker listings?? Places like Palo Alto, Los Altos and Atherton CA are possibly more expensive than Malibu

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