US$175,000 = NZ$331,058
January 26, 2009, 5:10 pm
Median Price Check: What a $175,000 House Looks Like
Sushil Cheema reports:
The National Association of Realtors today reported that home resales were up 6.5% in December from a month earlier, in part due to buyers scooping up distressed sales in many markets. Nationwide the median home price fell to $175,000 in December 2008 — a 15.3% drop from December 2007. (See “Home Resales Rise as Prices Tumble.) Here’s a look at what $175,000 gets you in a few different areas in the U.S., courtesy of Zillow.com.
304 Santa Rosa Avenue in Santa Rosa, Calif
This house at 304 Santa Rosa Avenue in Santa Rosa, Calif., sold for $175,000 on January 1. The 889-square-foot house has three bedrooms and two bathrooms. The median sales price in the West fell to $213,100 in December 2008, a 31.5% drop from December 2007.
8135 Cameron Cay Ct. in New Port Richey, Fla.
This 1,624-square-foot house at 8135 Cameron Cay Ct. in New Port Richey, Fla., sold for $176,000 on December 20. Located on a 19,437-square-foot lot, it has three bedrooms and two bathrooms. In the South, the median price was $158,000 in December 2008.
7521 Saint George Circle in Portage, Mich.
This 1,758-square-foot house at 7521 Saint George Circle in Portage, Mich., sold for $175,450 on December 5. It has three bedrooms, two-and-a-half bathrooms. The median price in the Midwest was $140,800 in December 2008, an 11.4% drop from December 2007.
226 High Street in Peekskill, NY
This property at 226 High Street in Peekskill, N.Y., sold for $175,000 on December 2. The 1,000-square-foot house has two bedrooms and one bathroom. In December 2008, the median price in the northeast fell 7.8% to $235,000 from December 2007.
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Comments
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Overpriced east coast shit-box! Too bad there are no jobs in the midwest - hence modest home prices.
Comment by CC - January 26, 2009 at 5:34 pm
“The 889-square-foot house has three bedrooms and two bathrooms” So that is two 5×9 bathrooms, a 5×5 entrance and connecting hall, and three 15×15 bedrooms. Where is the kitchen, closets, den/eating area?
Comment by Squeezed - January 26, 2009 at 7:24 pm
You can not build a house for less then $100 per square foot, plus the lot. Once this glut is all sold, watch out for substantial increases in prices, especially with the inflation that will hit us after spending almost $2Trillion on the financial mess.
Comment by Tom and Judy P.Florida - January 26, 2009 at 7:48 pm
In fact you can build for less than $100 sq ft including the lot. People do it all along in TX, which economy and the availability of high paying jobs is among the strongest in the US.
Comment by yes you can - January 26, 2009 at 7:58 pm
“You can not build a house for less then $100 per square foot, plus the lot. Once this glut is all sold, watch out for substantial increases in prices, especially with the inflation that will hit us after spending almost $2Trillion on the financial mess.” To that I ask, how are buyers going to be able to afford “substantial increases in prices,” given that, for the most part, toxic mortgages are no longer available? And given, too, the tremendous debt that so many would-be buyers have racked up, and given, too, that so many would-be buyers are either going to be unemployed or in jobs which pay substantially less than their former jobs paid?
Comment by brianinboise - January 26, 2009 at 8:06 pm
Inflation is a definite. In the interim home prices will
adjust to market conditions.
There is still downward momentum.
Comment by Anthony Asaro - January 26, 2009 at 8:09 pm
Inflation is a definite. In the meantime market conditions will dictate.Therefore house price will continue to decline.
Comment by Anthony Asaro - January 26, 2009 at 8:11 pm
What’s really scary is that these s—boxes were going for almost 250K a couple of years ago. The good news: they’ll all be under 125K by 2010.
Comment by Reality - January 26, 2009 at 8:25 pm
Seems _deflation_ is definite in the actual conditions of 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, and maybe a few more years.
Comment by Akex - January 26, 2009 at 9:13 pm
We are not going to get the old loans. We will not get the old economy back. Taxes will have to go up, to make up for the slowdown. Further, more debt. Also, there are less young people. Also, many people will have banged up credit in a tighter market. Lastly, there are a lot of people either alone, or a couple rattling around in a big house.
Other than that, housing should come back.
Comment by Paul - January 26, 2009 at 9:50 pm
Baby boomers banked on ever increasing home prices to finance a comfortable retirement. Guess what, no time off for you !!!!
Comment by ex-celled - January 26, 2009 at 11:06 pm
Nominal price declines (mean reversion to ~3x household income) bottom late in 2010. Inflation emerges as pulse is (faintly) detected on the economy. Nominal house prices stay flat a couple years as real prices finish the correction. Price impacts due to changes in demographics more likely to be regional/local phenomena tied to industry winners and losers of the current shakeout.
Comment by JB - January 27, 2009 at 1:24 am
FHA loans are keeping prices in the 200’s in Cali where prices were 600’s. Only 3 percent down. Now how can u beat that. Now we have low income housing in Cali for everybody.
Comment by jjlkosulof - January 27, 2009 at 2:13 am
yeah, now if we only had income for everybody.
Comment by abf - January 27, 2009 at 4:26 am
building and selling nice homes 2000plus heated 2 car garage for $87sq columbus,ga. jobs too!
Comment by homebuilder - January 27, 2009 at 5:38 am
All of the above miss the point. The most serious real estate/financial problems are ahead of us, as it is in the higher end of the primary and second home markets that prices are going to drop most sharply. As of now the correction has barely started and will dwarf the declines and loss of wealth seen in the lower end. The consequences for the banking world and the economy are unfortunately be worse than anything we have yet seen. This is the last shoe to fall in wealth destruction generated by the mega credit bubble of the last 25 years.
Comment by Time will tell - January 27, 2009 at 6:52 am
Econommic basics are food, clothing and housing.
The folks who bought homes for a short term investment gains made the wrong choice. Now they are beging for government help so they will not lose their homes.
Comment by jlwarner - January 27, 2009 at 7:12 am
Gee, such doomsday predictions. All this happened in the Great Depression and guess what? America survived! People need to start living at the level their means indicate, not what they wish to God they could afford but can’t. My grandparents survived it then and I will survive it now.
Comment by greenseashells - January 27, 2009 at 7:13 am
….Great Depression ? ….certainly America survived then….but that was then…and this is now….then expectations were a lot lower….it costs a lot of money (or credit) to run America and guess what…America has run out of money…..the market always corrects sooner or later…
Comment by mistaken borrower - January 27, 2009 at 8:30 am
@greenseashells - January 27, 2009 at 7:13 am
While what you say is true, you miss one key fact.
WWII wiped out the manufacturing capacity of the rest of the world.
Coming out of the depression / WWII, for 25 yrs, we (the US) made and consumed the products we made, which meant anyone who wanted to work could, and could support a family / buy a house on factory wages.
Coming out of our current economic mess, manufacturing capacity is abundant in China, Brazil, with India and Mexico not far behind.
No high manufacturing wages, no boom times to come.
-
Thus, Paul - January 26, 2009 at 9:50 pm has it correct,
Re: jobs, wages in this country are going down, to bring us in line with other producers (the only way to have sub $100 a sf housing, like in GA, is to pay Georgia type wages / no benefits / have no Gov’t mandated building restrictions),
Debt lingers on (even if people can pay down credit card debt, student loans, vehicles with expensive emission controls/fuel economy requirements are going to be much more expensive)
As we in the US move to European style Socialism, our taxes are going to European levels. (½ of income going to the Gov’t for taxes, and not just for the top ½ of taxpayers, for everyone)
Thus, with the increased costs of living in other areas, and housing, fewer $’s per month can be devoted to housing / the old income to house price relationship has to change from historical norms,
heading to 2 to 1 ???,
i.e. if you make 50k a yr, you can cover the payment/insurance/taxes/maintenance costs on a $100k house.
All of this implies that new housing will be much smaller, like the 800sf CA house, (800 sf * $100 / sf = 80k house), massive political pressure will be placed on removing the restrictive building requirements some parts of the country face, and new construction will be really plain (cheap).
Comment by Bob - January 27, 2009 at 8:50 am
@Too bad there are no jobs in the midwest - hence modest home prices.Comment by CC - January 26, 2009 at 5:34 pm
>>>Check the unemployment rates for the NE / CA, they are quickly heading toward Michigan levels.
Comment by Bob - January 27, 2009 at 8:52 am
Everybdy ought to read The Trillion Dollar Meltdown by Charles Morris……spells out HOW we got where we are…..which, in turns, allows perspective over the past 50 years to sink in allowing intelligent immediate decisions….if gov’t would only read….
Comment by Laska - January 27, 2009 at 12:15 pm
I am with Bob. I believe that America is moving to a more socialist economy. We brought this on ourselves by not being responsible and living beyond our means. All this bail out money will have to be paid back somehow and that translates to higher taxes for everyone when the economy bounces back. My partner and I are investing in a home now while prices are within reason. Yes it is a fixer uppper but this is the time to buy before the you know what hits the fan. I am also preparing to pay down my debt and also investing in my education. From now on it is cash only and I am throwing the credit cards out. I want to be financially ready for when our taxes do increase and not be caught with my pants down. I am also taking any extra money I have and placing it in investments. I am learning that instead of buying things it is more important to accumulate wealth by investing any extra money that comes my way into stocks or a savings account.
Comment by Nina - January 27, 2009 at 3:32 pm
January 26, 2009, 5:10 pm
Median Price Check: What a $175,000 House Looks Like
Sushil Cheema reports:
The National Association of Realtors today reported that home resales were up 6.5% in December from a month earlier, in part due to buyers scooping up distressed sales in many markets. Nationwide the median home price fell to $175,000 in December 2008 — a 15.3% drop from December 2007. (See “Home Resales Rise as Prices Tumble.) Here’s a look at what $175,000 gets you in a few different areas in the U.S., courtesy of Zillow.com.
304 Santa Rosa Avenue in Santa Rosa, Calif
This house at 304 Santa Rosa Avenue in Santa Rosa, Calif., sold for $175,000 on January 1. The 889-square-foot house has three bedrooms and two bathrooms. The median sales price in the West fell to $213,100 in December 2008, a 31.5% drop from December 2007.
8135 Cameron Cay Ct. in New Port Richey, Fla.
This 1,624-square-foot house at 8135 Cameron Cay Ct. in New Port Richey, Fla., sold for $176,000 on December 20. Located on a 19,437-square-foot lot, it has three bedrooms and two bathrooms. In the South, the median price was $158,000 in December 2008.
7521 Saint George Circle in Portage, Mich.
This 1,758-square-foot house at 7521 Saint George Circle in Portage, Mich., sold for $175,450 on December 5. It has three bedrooms, two-and-a-half bathrooms. The median price in the Midwest was $140,800 in December 2008, an 11.4% drop from December 2007.
226 High Street in Peekskill, NY
This property at 226 High Street in Peekskill, N.Y., sold for $175,000 on December 2. The 1,000-square-foot house has two bedrooms and one bathroom. In December 2008, the median price in the northeast fell 7.8% to $235,000 from December 2007.
Permalink | Trackback URL: http://blogs.wsj.com/developments/20...ike/trackback/
Comments
Report offensive comments to [email protected]
Overpriced east coast shit-box! Too bad there are no jobs in the midwest - hence modest home prices.
Comment by CC - January 26, 2009 at 5:34 pm
“The 889-square-foot house has three bedrooms and two bathrooms” So that is two 5×9 bathrooms, a 5×5 entrance and connecting hall, and three 15×15 bedrooms. Where is the kitchen, closets, den/eating area?
Comment by Squeezed - January 26, 2009 at 7:24 pm
You can not build a house for less then $100 per square foot, plus the lot. Once this glut is all sold, watch out for substantial increases in prices, especially with the inflation that will hit us after spending almost $2Trillion on the financial mess.
Comment by Tom and Judy P.Florida - January 26, 2009 at 7:48 pm
In fact you can build for less than $100 sq ft including the lot. People do it all along in TX, which economy and the availability of high paying jobs is among the strongest in the US.
Comment by yes you can - January 26, 2009 at 7:58 pm
“You can not build a house for less then $100 per square foot, plus the lot. Once this glut is all sold, watch out for substantial increases in prices, especially with the inflation that will hit us after spending almost $2Trillion on the financial mess.” To that I ask, how are buyers going to be able to afford “substantial increases in prices,” given that, for the most part, toxic mortgages are no longer available? And given, too, the tremendous debt that so many would-be buyers have racked up, and given, too, that so many would-be buyers are either going to be unemployed or in jobs which pay substantially less than their former jobs paid?
Comment by brianinboise - January 26, 2009 at 8:06 pm
Inflation is a definite. In the interim home prices will
adjust to market conditions.
There is still downward momentum.
Comment by Anthony Asaro - January 26, 2009 at 8:09 pm
Inflation is a definite. In the meantime market conditions will dictate.Therefore house price will continue to decline.
Comment by Anthony Asaro - January 26, 2009 at 8:11 pm
What’s really scary is that these s—boxes were going for almost 250K a couple of years ago. The good news: they’ll all be under 125K by 2010.
Comment by Reality - January 26, 2009 at 8:25 pm
Seems _deflation_ is definite in the actual conditions of 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, and maybe a few more years.
Comment by Akex - January 26, 2009 at 9:13 pm
We are not going to get the old loans. We will not get the old economy back. Taxes will have to go up, to make up for the slowdown. Further, more debt. Also, there are less young people. Also, many people will have banged up credit in a tighter market. Lastly, there are a lot of people either alone, or a couple rattling around in a big house.
Other than that, housing should come back.
Comment by Paul - January 26, 2009 at 9:50 pm
Baby boomers banked on ever increasing home prices to finance a comfortable retirement. Guess what, no time off for you !!!!
Comment by ex-celled - January 26, 2009 at 11:06 pm
Nominal price declines (mean reversion to ~3x household income) bottom late in 2010. Inflation emerges as pulse is (faintly) detected on the economy. Nominal house prices stay flat a couple years as real prices finish the correction. Price impacts due to changes in demographics more likely to be regional/local phenomena tied to industry winners and losers of the current shakeout.
Comment by JB - January 27, 2009 at 1:24 am
FHA loans are keeping prices in the 200’s in Cali where prices were 600’s. Only 3 percent down. Now how can u beat that. Now we have low income housing in Cali for everybody.
Comment by jjlkosulof - January 27, 2009 at 2:13 am
yeah, now if we only had income for everybody.
Comment by abf - January 27, 2009 at 4:26 am
building and selling nice homes 2000plus heated 2 car garage for $87sq columbus,ga. jobs too!
Comment by homebuilder - January 27, 2009 at 5:38 am
All of the above miss the point. The most serious real estate/financial problems are ahead of us, as it is in the higher end of the primary and second home markets that prices are going to drop most sharply. As of now the correction has barely started and will dwarf the declines and loss of wealth seen in the lower end. The consequences for the banking world and the economy are unfortunately be worse than anything we have yet seen. This is the last shoe to fall in wealth destruction generated by the mega credit bubble of the last 25 years.
Comment by Time will tell - January 27, 2009 at 6:52 am
Econommic basics are food, clothing and housing.
The folks who bought homes for a short term investment gains made the wrong choice. Now they are beging for government help so they will not lose their homes.
Comment by jlwarner - January 27, 2009 at 7:12 am
Gee, such doomsday predictions. All this happened in the Great Depression and guess what? America survived! People need to start living at the level their means indicate, not what they wish to God they could afford but can’t. My grandparents survived it then and I will survive it now.
Comment by greenseashells - January 27, 2009 at 7:13 am
….Great Depression ? ….certainly America survived then….but that was then…and this is now….then expectations were a lot lower….it costs a lot of money (or credit) to run America and guess what…America has run out of money…..the market always corrects sooner or later…
Comment by mistaken borrower - January 27, 2009 at 8:30 am
@greenseashells - January 27, 2009 at 7:13 am
While what you say is true, you miss one key fact.
WWII wiped out the manufacturing capacity of the rest of the world.
Coming out of the depression / WWII, for 25 yrs, we (the US) made and consumed the products we made, which meant anyone who wanted to work could, and could support a family / buy a house on factory wages.
Coming out of our current economic mess, manufacturing capacity is abundant in China, Brazil, with India and Mexico not far behind.
No high manufacturing wages, no boom times to come.
-
Thus, Paul - January 26, 2009 at 9:50 pm has it correct,
Re: jobs, wages in this country are going down, to bring us in line with other producers (the only way to have sub $100 a sf housing, like in GA, is to pay Georgia type wages / no benefits / have no Gov’t mandated building restrictions),
Debt lingers on (even if people can pay down credit card debt, student loans, vehicles with expensive emission controls/fuel economy requirements are going to be much more expensive)
As we in the US move to European style Socialism, our taxes are going to European levels. (½ of income going to the Gov’t for taxes, and not just for the top ½ of taxpayers, for everyone)
Thus, with the increased costs of living in other areas, and housing, fewer $’s per month can be devoted to housing / the old income to house price relationship has to change from historical norms,
heading to 2 to 1 ???,
i.e. if you make 50k a yr, you can cover the payment/insurance/taxes/maintenance costs on a $100k house.
All of this implies that new housing will be much smaller, like the 800sf CA house, (800 sf * $100 / sf = 80k house), massive political pressure will be placed on removing the restrictive building requirements some parts of the country face, and new construction will be really plain (cheap).
Comment by Bob - January 27, 2009 at 8:50 am
@Too bad there are no jobs in the midwest - hence modest home prices.Comment by CC - January 26, 2009 at 5:34 pm
>>>Check the unemployment rates for the NE / CA, they are quickly heading toward Michigan levels.
Comment by Bob - January 27, 2009 at 8:52 am
Everybdy ought to read The Trillion Dollar Meltdown by Charles Morris……spells out HOW we got where we are…..which, in turns, allows perspective over the past 50 years to sink in allowing intelligent immediate decisions….if gov’t would only read….
Comment by Laska - January 27, 2009 at 12:15 pm
I am with Bob. I believe that America is moving to a more socialist economy. We brought this on ourselves by not being responsible and living beyond our means. All this bail out money will have to be paid back somehow and that translates to higher taxes for everyone when the economy bounces back. My partner and I are investing in a home now while prices are within reason. Yes it is a fixer uppper but this is the time to buy before the you know what hits the fan. I am also preparing to pay down my debt and also investing in my education. From now on it is cash only and I am throwing the credit cards out. I want to be financially ready for when our taxes do increase and not be caught with my pants down. I am also taking any extra money I have and placing it in investments. I am learning that instead of buying things it is more important to accumulate wealth by investing any extra money that comes my way into stocks or a savings account.
Comment by Nina - January 27, 2009 at 3:32 pm