Want to be a real estate millionaire? Just buy a starter home. According to WRE News, for 237 cities in the US, the typical starter home costs $1 million or more. You can read the original article here.
Not surprisingly, most of these cities with pricey starter homes are concentrated on the coasts and in Florida. California alone has 117 such cities, with New York having 31, New Jersey 21, Florida 11, and Massachusetts 11.
Again not a surprise, the communities with the costliest starter homes also have the most restrictions on development. Lower rates of home ownership tag right along.
While this is miserable news for aspiring homeowners, it’s great news for landlords. While rents have already been driven sky-high, the unaffordability of the American dream will keep more people in apartments longer.
I call it a dark cloud with a silver lining. Our country would be better off with homeownership within reach of the average person. I’ll discuss how to make housing affordable again in my next post.