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August 16, 2005
Moving on Up
As I have mentioned before, one of my top priorities for the next couple months is moving to a new apartment. Since coming back from Sweden at the end of June, the delight of living with my parents has subsided into mere gratefulness for free rent.
I've been keeping an eye out for reasonably priced homes, while simultaneously deeply regreting selling my condo last year (although it did fund my time in Sweden). I am now much chagrined to read this article from CNN Money on "Most overpriced home markets". For although FindYourSpot would seem to indicate I belong in the Southwest, I would prefer to remain in the D.C. metro area for the next couple years, at least.
At the bottom of the article, it explains that only in about 20 metro areas, mostly located in eight states, does the relationship of home price to income defy logic. It then proceeds to enumerate the 50 most overpriced markets. The list is based on employment forecasts, population forecasts, and income level and growth compared with housing prices.
Let us quickly review the results:
--- #3 on the list is "Bethesda-Frederick-Gaithersburg, MD" which basically described my ideal place to live. Bah!
--- #4 on the list is "Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV" which is the next best thing to the Bethesda area. Double bah!
--- #21 on the list is "Baltimore-Towson, MD" which is the third best thing in the area (although even that is a little far out of the "ideal" range).
--- Basically every single town in California (and several in the Southwest) is also on the list, which means that anyone in the market for a new home should be looking in the Midwest. Triple bah!
Comments
After looking over this article and realizing our home is located in the prime real estate bubble zone, I sure am glad we haven't taken out a home equity loan!
Posted by: La at August 17, 2005 09:30 AM
