Least Affordable US Cities (real estate, rent, condo)

[Roman11]

Because most San Diego threads are concerned with the affordability here I was wondering how bad is it really. It's pretty bad. As much as I like living here, with the climate, people and things to do we're pretty much the 5th most "unaffordable city" in the US. I looked up a few list which all had different cities list but San Diego seemed to be number 5 on most list.

Least Affordable US Cities:
Rank Country City
1 United States New York City
2 United States San Francisco
3 United States Stamford, conn.
4 United States San Jose
5 United States San Diego
6 United States Santa Barbara
7 United States Bakersfield, Calif.
8 United States Los Angeles
9 United States Fresno, Calif.
10 United States Boston

Here is another list that I thought was interesting because it compares the cost-of-living in that city as compared to the national average. I must admit I was surprised by #10 (Seattle, WA) and #9 (Ann Arbor, MI) on this list.

http://www.soyouwanna.com/site/topte...ivecities.html

[mountain_time_Blues]

Here's U.S. News and World Report's 10 Most Overvalued Housing Markets
|-----Area---------------------|Median House Price|----|OverValution|

10: Riverside-San Bernadino, CA-- $332,300--------------68.7%

9: Madera, CA------------------- $301,600--------------72.5%

8: Santa Barbara, CA-------------$629,600---------------73%

7: Punta Gorda, FL---------------$210,900---------------73.4%

6: Stockton, CA------------------$344,600---------------74.9%

5: Bend, OR----------------------$276,100---------------76.4%

4: Merced, CA--------------------$291,300---------------77%

3: Port St. Lucie-Fort Pierce, FL---$240,800---------------77.4%

2: Salinas, CA--------------------$608,600---------------79.1%

**1: Naples, FL------------------$383,000---------------102.6%

[Angel Bear]

Bakersfield?????????? LOL

[Roman11]

Originally Posted by mountain_time_Blues

Here's U.S. News and World Report's 10 Most Overvalued Housing Markets
|-----Area---------------------|Median House Price|----|OverValution|

10: Riverside-San Bernadino, CA-- $332,300--------------68.7%

9: Madera, CA------------------- $301,600--------------72.5%

8: Santa Barbara, CA-------------$629,600---------------73%

7: Punta Gorda, FL---------------$210,900---------------73.4%

6: Stockton, CA------------------$344,600---------------74.9%

5: Bend, OR----------------------$276,100---------------76.4%

4: Merced, CA--------------------$291,300---------------77%

3: Port St. Lucie-Fort Pierce, FL---$240,800---------------77.4%

2: Salinas, CA--------------------$608,600---------------79.1%

**1: Naples, FL------------------$383,000---------------102.6%

Did the list go past 10? If it did, curious where San Diego rated?

[socketz]

The research they did is posted here:

http://www.globalinsight.com/gcpath/1Q2006report.pdf

Look on page 13, San Diego came in at 38%, which makes sense because employment is strong here in the white collar sectors. Still not strong enough for the median prices. I believe that San Diego will remain flat for 5-7 years waiting for the salaries to catch up with Orange County. Beyond that, rates should begin to trickle back down and fuel another upswing.

[New_Yorker]

If those places are unaffordable, then how come so many people live there?

"No one goes there anymore, it's too crowded."

-Yogi Berra

Originally Posted by Roman11

Because most San Diego threads are concerned with the affordability here I was wondering how bad is it really. It's pretty bad. As much as I like living here, with the climate, people and things to do we're pretty much the 5th most "unaffordable city" in the US. I looked up a few list which all had different cities list but San Diego seemed to be number 5 on most list.

Least Affordable US Cities:
Rank Country City
1 United States New York City
2 United States San Francisco
3 United States Stamford, conn.
4 United States San Jose
5 United States San Diego
6 United States Santa Barbara
7 United States Bakersfield, Calif.
8 United States Los Angeles
9 United States Fresno, Calif.
10 United States Boston

Here is another list that I thought was interesting because it compares the cost-of-living in that city as compared to the national average. I must admit I was surprised by #10 (Seattle, WA) and #9 (Ann Arbor, MI) on this list.

http://www.soyouwanna.com/site/topte...ivecities.html

[sevdie]

Originally Posted by New_Yorker

If those places are unaffordable, then how come so many people live there?

"No one goes there anymore, it's too crowded."

-Yogi Berra

And no one drives because there's too much traffic.

[New_Yorker]

If no one drives then who are all those people on the highways?

Originally Posted by sevdie

And no one drives because there's too much traffic.

[socketz]

It's really just logic and supply and demand at work.

If a place like San Diego had high salaries and low cost of living to go with its spectacular weather, then why wouldn't everyone live here.

Likewise, if NYC had spectacular weather/low housing costs to go with its high salaries and incredible culture/history, then why wouldn't everyone live there.

It all comes down to priorities and which priorities are the most important to you at a certain point in your life. Local housing costs seem very balanced with regards to trade-offs made for climate, opportunity and lifestyle.

It does seem however that we tend to demonize the priorities that our not aligned with our own. Perhaps that is just a way to justify the trade off we've made by going with one set of priorities over another....not sure.

But most definitely, if Weather is your #1, there is no place on the globe close to San Diego (and I've been around the globe a few times). The tradeoff, you'll live a very modest lifestyle and have to make some tradeoffs financially (i.e. rent a nice home vs. go house poor trying to buy a mediocre one OR downsize into a condo from a large home). For some in the later stages of their lives, that seems like a reasonable tradeoff.

One thing is for certain, San Diego Real Estate will always have a certain tangible higher value vs. the rest of the US because it is such a nice place to live. I honestly can't see a day where it would collapse here while not collapsing elsewhere in the US (like the doomsdayers that write for Money magazine). If it did, this would be an excellent buying opportunity because the premium will return - like it has done so many times in the past. It's just this last time it returned, we overshot the target by about 20%.

[shannon94]

Originally Posted by New_Yorker

If those places are unaffordable, then how come so many people live there?

"No one goes there anymore, it's too crowded."

-Yogi Berra

lol...it's called creative financing and living beyond your means.