San Antonio ranked 2nd most affordable housing market (Houston, Dallas: insurance, mortgage)

[tgannaway89]

10 most affordable home markets (http://www.bizjournals.com/specials/slideshow/42.html?page=2 - broken link)

Houston also took 8 on the list. Dallas-Fort Worth were a little farther behind at 15.

Full list at http://www.bizjournals.com/specials/pages/160.html

[texdav]

Those stats don't seem to indicate that the average house is very nice tho.

[banker]

Not sure what kind of house you could get for less than $800/month here in San Antonio. Not buying today anyway. The house I just sold was in that payment range...but I bought it at 2001 prices...not 2008 prices. I wouldn't want to live in a home that was in the low $100K range today. The house I sold was nice enough...but I sold it for $179K - the monthly payment even on a 30 year mortgage will be much higher than the figures released in this study. The taxes alone will be $300/month.

[Chaka]

Yeah, I'm wondering how one manages to have a payment so low. Our house was bought in the low-mid-100s (if you include the renovation loan on top of the actual purchase), and I know our insurance is higher than some due to said renovations, but the overall payment is nowhere near that low, and we bought when prices were barely on the upswing. You need double that for a place in our neighborhood now.

I guess these figures include ALL housing, so that includes the houses on the south and west side that can be had for <$100K. They're just not desireable neighborhoods.

[tgannaway89]

This is an average based on the metro. Also keep in mind that it only compares the 50 largest metros (so places like El Paso are not included).

[Chaka]

The point is that the average is not that relevant of a figure. Now, overall SA doesn't have as much high end housing as some metros (ie >$1M), so that skews it to the lower end.

A more relevant figure would be the median, which I'd expect to be a little bit higher.

Also, while this is reporting just on the home market, it doesn't necessarily reflect overall cost of living, which is something to consider in the home-buying process. If that payment requires you to commute 70 miles a day, at $3/gal, that can add up, even with a fuel efficient car, not to mention wear and tear on the car, time lost, etc. For that reason, I don't really like these sorts of rankings - if you're just looking to buy property as an investment it may be useful. But if you're looking for a place to buy a 'home', it's not a reliable indicator.

[montevista1]

That mortgage payment is laughable. Most families in San Antonio would not want to live in a house that costs less than 150,000. Most would fall in 150 and up category which would mean property tax of 4500 + and mortgage payment of 900+.

[dvlpr]

montevista1:

I'm sorry, but you're incorrect. The vast majority of new homes built and sold in the last 10 years in the San Antonio market were priced underneath $150,000 (I'm "in the business").

I certainly can't understand why anyone would want to live in a boring suburban subdivision as opposed to an older, established neighborhood (I live in MV, by the way), but plenty of people are quite happy to do so. Hell, they actually think it's great!

[montevista1]

The average house in san antonio is rougly 150 grand anything less is less than average house. The bizjournal quoted a mortgage payment which would pay for rougly 100 grand of mortgage payment. Furthemore, ther is also a huge glut of those houses that are less than 150k. Builders are having a tough time selling them.

[ryneone]

Well if this is the case i need a home. I am throwing 1100 dollars a month down the drain to an apt complex.