Most affordable city
Indianapolis has the most affordable houses in the United States.
According to an organization’s calculations, home buyers in Indianapolis won’t need payday loans to keep up with their mortgages.
The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index says Indianapolis, Ind., is the most affordable city in the United States as far as home buying goes.
Formula
The NAHB calculates how affordable a house is based on the national median income, which is $61,500 a year. If a home’s monthly mortgage payments equal less than 28 percent of this total, the house is considered affordable.
Overall affordability
As home prices have plummeted, more houses considered “affordable” are selling. Nationally, more than 60 percent of the homes sold in the last three months of 2008 fit the NAHB’s affordability standard.
This is a good sign that people are starting to live within their means and steer away from payday loans and other forms of credit.
Best of the best
Indianapolis topped the list of most affordable cities because a whopping 93 percent of the homes sold during fourth quarter 2008 were considered affordable. This city has long topped the list; this marks its 14th consecutive quarter in the top spot. The average home price in Indianapolis during that quarter was $103,000.
The list only examines metropolitan cities that have a population higher than 500,000.
Next up
Coming in a pretty close second, almost 90 percent of homes in Warren, Mich., sold at affordable rates during the last three months of 2008. The median home price there was $125,000.
Worst of the worst
On the top of the list of least affordable places: New York City. During the same quarter, only 13 percent of the homes sold in New York City were considered affordable.
Next on the list? San Francisco, where only 20 percent of homes were sold at an affordable price. Even though home prices are the lowest they’ve been in decades, some places are still just expensive places to live.
More contenders
So, if you are looking to buy a house or move to another city, here is another place you might want to consider: Ohio. With four cities on the top 10 list, Ohio claims more spots on the list than any other state.
Indiana, Ohio and Michigan — in general, if you want to assure that you won’t need payday loans to keep up with your mortgage, that area of the country is a good bet.
Home prices are typically lower the further east that you get, until you hit the coast and definitely a lot of New England, but just over $100,000 for a new home? Impressive. I guess this gives me another reason to root for the Colts.