How much does a house cost where you live?
 

It's becoming more and more unrealistic for the "average" family to buy their first home. I'm curious to see how much real estate costs around the country and around the world.

I live in San Diego, California (admittedly one of the most expensive places to live in the USofA), and a small 3 or 4 bedroom house will cost anywhere from 400K to 800K depending upon the location. A 2 bedroom condo will run about 200K to 400K. It seems pretty rediculous to me.

In the UK house prices have gone through the roof. I live in Nottingham and 3 years ago I brought my house for £28,500. Last month my neighbour sold his for £79,000. I know a number of first time buyers who despair of ever buying their own home.

We bought our first house in Memphis last year.

2 bedroom bungalow in midtown $110k

Same house in other more desirable neighborhoods were $129k-$169k

In the Denver area prices are out of control. Most any new home starts in the low to mid $200k range, and it is next to impossible to get anything not in the ghetto for less than $150k. Ten years ago prices were about half what they are now.

Friend of mine just purchased a 3br townhome in the Minneapolis suburbs for $169k.

It really depends. I bought my house for $70k 5 years ago. It's a small lake cottage on about a half acre that was repossessed by the government. It's worth around $200k now but a good portion of that growth is due to the fact that I bought it at such a low price because it needed work and hadn't been lived in for several years.

Now, if you want to know the typical price of a newly constructed 4 bedroom house in my area it would be between $300 and $400k.

Entry level homes (pre owned with 2 or 3 bedrooms with 1 to 1 1/2 baths) are around $180k.

I bought my first house last year when the interest rates were super low (I got 4.45%) for $103,000. The house is a brand new 2 bedroom, 1 bath, 1 car garage, and an unfinished basement. I plan on finishing the basement in to another bedroom and another bathroom. When its all said and done I will have a 3 bedroom, 2 bath with about 1500 square feet of living space.

I would guess that the reason the price is so reasonable is because I live in western Iowa.

My Dad just bought a house to remodel. When he's done it will be 3 (large) bedroom, 2 1/2 bath (I think), large livingroom, office, patio/deck, 2 car garage, and full basement. He's gonna be asking $39K for it. It's in a decent but slightly older part of town. In our town of 10,000 there aren't hardly NON-decent parts. It's only about 2 blocks from the Wisconsin River. We've actually considered trying to buy it but we've nothing saved up for downpayment. He even plans to have a wood staircase and chandelier in the entry. Should look nice. Rent even is pretty low $350 - $550 depending on where you go. Now property taxes are the highest in the nation I heard. They are exceptionally high however you cut it.

in manhattan????

US$700k for a 3 bedroom... that's in my neighborhood...

other places in manhattan sell for no less than US$1 mil....

Just bought my first house in Federal Way Washington (20 minutes south of Seattle). for $150,000. Its a 3 Bedroom and a slight fixer. It was repossessed from the previous owner prior to my purchase. It would have otherwise sold for around $170.

In Santa Cruz, California, an exceptionally nice place on the coast, with a beach, 25 miles south of Silicon Valley, if you look _real_ hard you might find a 50-year-old, run-down ranch house, 1200 square feet maybe, 3 BR if you're lucky, for $600K.

Ten years ago, this wasn't a real expensive town. Lot of counterculture and such here. But it got bad at the dot-com boom, and kept getting worse afterwards. A lot of people pulled their money out of stocks and put it into property. And lower interest rates helped.

Thing is, the actual _wages_ here in town aren't that high, unless you're working over the hill. So they have a hard time recruiting new cops, new teachers, new civil servants, everything. And families that didn't already own homes are moving out because they can't afford to buy. So there are fewer and fewer kids in town. Because of the gap between home prices and wages, Santa Cruz is regularly rated as one of the three least affordable housing markets in the nation. It's ugly.

I live in Calgary Ab, population of about a million. You can get a real nice 4 bedroom brand new home in a good area for about $250 000.

In Oklahoma, the prices in a very nice neighborhood run around $80/square ft. A 2400 sq. ft. home will go in the $190s. We are admittedly in one of the lower priced real estate markets in the country.

Wow...this is a fascinating thread. I can't imagine what Santa Cruz must be like. What's the avg. salary there?

And damn Cynthetiq, I heard the cost of living in Manhattan was outrageous, but holy cow...what's a gallon of milk run?

Queens, New York City.
Right next door to me a house is going for the asking price of $660,000. Three level three bedroom rowhouse with front and back yard.

Christ, y'all have expensive homes.

My house is a four-bedroom, two and a half bath two story brick home with sunroom, living room, family room, dining room, and kitchen in a really nice neighbordhood on almost an acre of land. I think it was about $180,000. Oh, and I live in rural Kentucky, btw.

In Rochester, N.Y.

Bought my first house in 1980(in the city) for 33,000 and sold it three years later for 54,000.

House #2, 1983 (suburbs) for 69,000. Sold it eight years later for 99,000

Finally, house #3. Purchased in '92 for 100,000 (back in the city). Just recently had it appraised for a home equity line for 140,000.

But really, go this way a mile, and you'll find properties for 5 or 600,000, and go that way for five blocks and find em for 45,000. The one constant though............THE TAXES SUCK! (I Love NY):(

I know what you mean. Last January I paid £67,500 for a three bedroom house and its worth about 90,000 1 year later. What the fuck?

I guess I better add my details:

I purchased a 2 bedroom/1 bath condo (1000 sqft.) about 8 months ago for 210K. I just had it reappraised at 300K. Its absolutely insane how quickly prices are jumping here in Cali. It feels good to get my foot in the door, but I definitely don't think I'm getting my money's worth, and I'm constantly afraid that the bottom will drop out of the market and I be left with a huge debt and nothing to show for it.

Thanks every one for your responses. This is very interesting stuff.

What do all these prices represent in terms of monthly cost? I'm thinking mortgage + taxes + PMI if any.

The house I live in was assessed at $290,000 five years ago. Homes in my area are appreciating value like crazy. The market value of this house now is over $500,000! It's a 6 bedroom, 2 living room, 3.5 bathroom, 1 dining room, 1 kitchen, 2 car garage, and basement. About 4,500 sq ft and the property is 32,000 sq ft.

-Robert

Things here in Chapel Hill are pretty bad in the area around the university (to be expected)... The house across from my fraternity house sold for 1.2 million, and the property my fraternity house sits on is worth 9.9 million. Pretty damn ridiculous.

Charleston, where my family is from, is the same way. In some cases, you can pay close to 7 million for a 1500-2000 sq. ft. apartment. Absolutely nuts.

Schoolteachers start at $34K, firemen at $36K, cops at $40K. And a lot of the big employers are in agriculture or up at the university, neither of which pay big bucks. A good auto mechanic makes maybe $25 an hour, but the hourly rate charged is more like $70. And rent on a 3BR house (that you'd actually want to live in) starts in the low $2K/month. A lot of people hang in here because they bought before we got expensive. And the people who pay the high prices for the houses are generally higher-paid commuters who work in Silicon Valley, not here. Or investors from the valley who buy houses on speculation and rent them out.

Our neighborhood used to be all Hondas, but now there's a big Beemer across the street and a Jag next door. Both houses occupied by one very-well-heeled person each.

Yeah, Chapel Hill is pricey, but those houses right there on Franklin Street are crazy expensive. Of course, they're mostly on the historical register, and they're enormous. And gorgeous.

We couldn't afford Chapel Hill, so we bought right on the CH edge of Durham. Our 1200 square foot 3 bedroom house cost us $119k. The last tax valuation was $130ish, and that didn't account for the upgrades we've made (hardwood floors, fenced backyard).

My parents sold our old 4 bedroom 3 bathroom for about 200k in tempe az

In Mass., as of Jan., the average selling price for a single-family home rose to $399,332. This is the AVERAGE for the whole state, including depressed areas and boonies. My deceased Grandma's house just sold for $309,000 and that was a small cape built in '62 and not in great shape - sm. old kitchen one sm. bath and two small bedrooms. My house, with 1.5 acres and 1200 sq. feet I bought for $120,000 10 years ago and is now worth over $400,000 (now 2100 sq. ft 4 bed 3 bath). My area is cheaper than anywhere within an hour of Boston, where prices can be double what they are here.

My house at home (I'm in college) is around 3,900 square feet. It was built in the 50s, it's a VERY nice house, I'm glad we moved into it recently. We just came from one of those generic prefab houses that they put new developments up with. Our old house was 2000 square feet, and made out of twigs. It was $130,000. We moved out after 6 years and we live in the 3,900 square feet one now. It's 5 bedroom, 3 1/2 baths, dining room, kitchen, formal living room, den, and then the gigantic downstairs area (this room is bigger than a lot of entire houses I have been in). It was $200,000. Apparently this is pretty cheap compared to a lot of areas. I live in North Carolina.

Here in Houston I just bought a 4/2.5/2 house for $180k. It's two stories, 2500 sq ft., and about 6 years old. Has a nice gameroom, study, and formal dining room.

My parents on the other hand, are building a house. It's 5500 sq ft, 4/5/4 and goes for about $800k. Though the appraisal on the house is about $1million. It's completely custom built and sits on about 2 acres, with 200ft of lakefront property.

Another Rochester, Ny. We just bought a 1928 colonial, all hardwood 1/3 acre completely updated and full of personality. We paid $93,000 on an appraised value of $80,000. We paid this because of the location. In two months the fast ferry starts service less than a mile from us, and the property values have already gone up due to this.
Our house is the oldest for three blocks in any direction and completely stands out. We paid more for the eclectic value we percieved, and the expected increase in value for the area.
The taxes in NY definately suck though.

Stats 1500 sq.ft.
Cedar siding
Detached 2 car garage
new roof,siding,electrical,woodburning stove,and furnace
large fenced lot
3 br. 1 1/2 ba.
9 rms
redwood interior and trim
huge screened porch
10 min. walk from charlotte beach
excellent schools (greece N.Y.)

Back in CT, moderately small town (51000 people), prices varied drastically depending on whether you were north end, south end, or between. The typical between home would cost anywhere from $130k+ to well over $300k depending on where you looked, moreso than the house itself.

Geez, you guys should move to Florida.
We built our house in 2000...it's got 4 bedrooms, 2baths, 2 car garage, and the price (including a 1/4 acre lot) was just over $100k.

It's our first house, and we had no down payment even.
Of course, now the real estate market has shot up, and our house is worth a lot more...I'm sure glad we stopped renting!

eusch, don't even get me started on house prices where i live...

our house has gone from £150k to well over £900k in a little less than 15 years, the average house on my street now sets you back about £1.2mil, compared to a quater of that 10 years ago.

Single detached home is 350K - 500K.

bout 150-250K, thats 20km from melbourne city.

in the metro Phoenix area, my friend had a brand new house built and finished last july- 3 bedroom, 2 bath, about 2000 sq feet for about $140k. When appraised in Jan, the expected value had already jumped to almost $200k. It's absolutely insane!

In Ontario, my house cost around $200,000 Canadian.

here in my suburb in Sydney, a very average block of land (ie, no house) went for $A685,000, last week.
(thats just a bit over $US535,000).
(btw, an average block here is a quarter acre)

Sydney real estate prices have been in a silly bubble for a long time now, and its finally starting to plateau.

the average house price in Sydney is about $A550,000... (thats about $US430,000).

Miami Beach, Fl... a house here will run about 800k and up.

Right here, half way between NYC and Philly in the country, the prices are getting rediculous. My family bought a 2 bed 1 bath cape for $114K about 8 years ago and it was just reassesed for $210K; and we're po' folk round here. Most of the new housing is cornfield colonials for rich people. They go for at least $400K+; I'm guessing most fall around $800K. It's insane around here.

I am on South Hill in Puyallup, which is about 40 min. SE of Seattle. It varies. If you want new construction with tight quarters/no yard- about $120-150,000.
Bigger homes, more yard new to newer consruction: $170-$250,000. Older homes as fixers are decently priced, but it's hard around here, because S. Hill is the wanna-be Bellevue w/view of Mt. Ranier in a lot of places.
We have a lot of quadrant homes and those tightly-squished ny-like houses too. But I would love to live in the scenic peaceful area of Sunrise.

Well, im 20 and living at home while going to school. My (parents) house was 350K 15 years ago. worth around 550 now. its funny, there are 400K houses and up all around, and right in between two of the biggest ones, there is a freaking barn..its like 2 square feet...two rooms total. I dunno how they got in there, but its the funniest thing to see...the neighbors garage is actually bigger than that house! funny stuff

oh btw, I live near akron ohio.

The Midwest is cheap!!!

My first house 5 years ago 3 bedroom purchased 65,000 sold it for 126,000.

Bought our current house in the burbs: 4 bed room, huge yard, 157,000. Average cost in the nieghborhood of home we were looking at was 145,000- 200-000.

We couldn't break the 160,000 mark without starving the kids and we had tons of options from brand spankin new to older homes.

I wish I had house options. There are tons of houses to buy in my area and town. The low end of houses is about 40k and the high end is about 150k. The problem is that all the houses are over valued by at least 20k and anything under 50k needs to have everything replaced but the walls.

If you want anything out of the city limits or more thn one acre plan to pay 200k or more. Farm land is worth about 2k an acre to farm and if you want to put a hous there plan for 10-15k an acre. I know those prices sound cheap compared to the prices you guys are throwing out but wages around here are shitty. Here $40k a year sallary is really good, a combined (husband and wife) sallary of $100k is HUGE.

I paid 146k for mine and it is already worth 158k in the space of 3 months without any of the extra work I have had done on it.
Our repayments are £520 a month which is good, because to rent a place around us goes from £600 up.

Well in the Bible belt of Oklahoma smack in between Oklahoma City and Tulsa. I've got a three bedroom 2 bath, two car garage for 80K. Motrgage is about $725 on a 30 year note. Average neighborhood in a divsion one college town. Oklahoma State University. What is kind of gouging me is home insurance going up every year. Damn escrow account. <p>I feel pretty lucky overall.

Use 1% of the house's value/month as an "order of magnitude" value. Based off back-of-napkin calculations, that seems accurate within a factor of 2. =)

So, for a 1 million dollar house, you are talking between 5,000 and 20,000 / month, I'd think.

(that's 12% annual interest + taxes + repairs + etc)

My parent's house in New Jersey, a very small (maybe 1000 sq. ft.)3 bedroom, no basement, 1 bath and a toilet and sink in the laundry room (its a weird house) is worth 300,000. Here in rural northwestern PA, where i go to school, you couldn't spend more then 100k on a three bedroom house if you tried.

Anyone that is interested in this topic would probably enojoy this website: Best Places You can compare two cities or just view a city's profile. You can enter what your yearly salary is and it will calculate what you would need to make in a different city to maintain the same standard of living. (Considering the different costs-of-living) You can compare many different demographics of a city, including the average home cost, property taxes, and property appreciation rates. It also compares your results with the nation average.

Note: This is not intended to be a "plug". The site is not mine and I am in no way affiliated with it. I use it for work and have founnd it extreamly useful for comparing such things as those that are being discussed on this thread.

Anyone else seem to think the rising prices of homes is like a bubble waiting to burst?

Downtown Toronto

We bought our house about 5 years ago and it was 165K for a 2 bedroom semi-detached victorian in a very nice neighbourhood.

We just had the house assessed last year and it is now in the 285K to 300K range.

With our new daughter we will need another bedroom soon (she's sharing with her brother for now)... to stay in this neighbourhood we can't find anything below 400K that is remotely close to what we need.

I could move to the suburbs and pay somewhere between 230K and 400K for something very large and brand new but then the commute would suck and well, I'd be living in the suburbs.

I'm really afraid of that. The problem is, it would hurt a lot of people.

Bought a house last August in Madison WI

3 bed, 1 bath, 1 car garage for US$165K.

Same here, I just bought a house for 117k and it's gone up 35k in the past 6 months that I've lived here. It's great, but something aint right....

The whole freaking market is crazy, I bought my place on Long Island 6 years ago & it was tough then. If I was just starting out now to buy my first home, I dont know if I could do it. Best of luck, I feel for you.

I just bought a 4 br house on the West Bank of New Orleans for about $170,000. Huge backyard

here in seattle, prices are just seriously insane... my parents house (mine when they die) they just bought was 550K, its 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath and 3000sq ft... i dont know what the land size is, but i know hat its insanely expensive

A friend bought a nice, remodeled 2bed 1bath condo off of Nobel for $300k+. I stayed there 2 summers ago for about $750/mo while I looked for my own place. They got such a good deal, because its super close to the campus, it's a really nice place with new everything, and it has a covered parking space.

The stuff I found when I was looking around here was a lot closer to what you described.

And if I get a job in Silicon Valley, I sure as hell am going to move because I wouldn't be able to stand driving the 17 everyday with all that crazy traffic. So it goes...

Yes! Scary thought! Wages should follow real estate and they aren't in the areas that I know of. The problem with real estate is that when it busts, it hurts almost everyone.

I always thought Alaska had expensive housing. Guess the rest of the world caught up.