Even less shocking if you live there. There's a chronic housing shortage in northern communities, in both the USA and Canada. Can't speak to Greenland, but I suspect it's similar.
Hawaii is at the top for many reasons: 1. It's a tropical paradise, 2. It's an island chain with limited land available for building houses and the land itself is extremely expensive, 3. Everything has to be imported and from a great distance, 4. Houses might need to be built to code to withstand earthquakes, typhoons, tsunamis and volcanoes. The more housing codes you have, the more expensive the final product is.
it's not a shortage of land, though. Even if you buy land, it is expensive to hire the labor to build something. Don't forget you might also have to build a road and pay for electric poles if you want to be on the grid.
jamed is correct. It's not about the land, it's about materials and labour, and thinking about hookups if you're not in town. Not to mention that the terrain and weather means you can't build all year round and permafrost is a logistical consideration.
Blue states with the bluest parts being the places with the highest land costs eg NYC, San Francisco, Boston. Thinking people have noticed this trend. Since having families tends to induce some people to become more conservative the idea is that higher land prices = delayed family formation = more liberal population, though this theory has not been lab tested, for obvious reasons
No it's not stupid. Liberal states create more land use restrictions, reducing housing supply, driving costs up. Obviously the choice they've made, and that's their choice to make. But it's not stupid to understand it.
Land use restrictions have very little to do with it. I live in one of the nicest neighborhoods in Chicago, where a two-bedroom condo costs around $550,000. It has nothing to do with land use restrictions. In fact, there are new high-rise condos popping up on every corner. The high price is a result of basic supply-and-demand. I live in a beautiful neighborhood, close to downtown, with parks every block and Lake Michigan ten minutes' walk away. So a lot of people want to live here. So the cost goes way up. It's the same in the New York City suburb where I grew up. There just isn't as much land to develop because it's so densely populated, and people want to be near New York City and in a nice suburb. I don't think land use restrictions matter.
As jmellor13 said, it's almost exclusively supply and demand. Many coastal places and places with global cities like California and New York attract all sorts of people for various reasons. If no one wanted to live in California or New York, the home prices would be pretty low, as people would be moving out and there would be a lot of supply. However, California and New York are extremely popular places to live, which drives up their home prices (the same is true for all states on this list). Politically it makes these states more liberal because cities tend to be more liberal, due to their cultural diversity and less reliance on traditions and religion. Sure land use restrictions can affect prices, but generally, their overall effect on the housing market is low due to the sheer prevalence of housing elsewhere in these areas.
Or, you could argue (also with only correlation behind you and not causality, like most of the rest of these given "reasons") that the blue states are the more expensive states because liberals are more educated and thus can afford to live in the most costly places. See what you can do with statistics? Then again, did anyone stop to notice that the more expensive states are kinda just simply the most desirable ones? They all have natural beauty and/or a great geographical location working for them.
Natural beauty is prevalent throughout the entirety of the USA, not just cities!? I agree with some points made here (cities are more expensive, blue states have better geographical location) but it definitely has something to do with blue states' tendencies to create legislation that has the effect of raising house prices (environmental regulations, higher housing standards, higher closing costs, land use regulations, etc.) It has nothing to do with 'liberals are more educated' -stop being so stuck-up. Liberalism certainly is not a measure of intelligence.
Liberal States would also tend to have better education, services, etc... along with higher property taxes to provide those items. There is a quiz on highest taxes per state that would make a good comparison.
Uh, lmiller, did you happen to notice the whole part about, “See what you can do with statistics?” Meaning: Just as various and sundry “conclusions” can be drawn from any set of given data, so can any of us schmucks here on JetPunk take quiz results and postulate an air-tight(!) theory as to why they are that way. It has nothing to do with being stuck up, but thanks for both proving my point as well as being the best r/woooosh candidate in this entire thread.
Wait, so you were making a joke out of your argument that seemed to be thought out in a serious way? or do you just misunderstand r/woooosh. I thought you made 2 good points in your argument, one about how these are all theories, and another about how these places may be blue, but they're also places of great beauty.
Yes, of course. California doesn't have any agriculture and Florida and Texas really need to get themselves some cities so they can provide some "software and brands".
I once went to San Diego and was explaining to a local couple that it's not uncommon to find smaller houses in my hometown of Des Moines for around $50,000. They would not believe me until I pulled up actual listings. Now I see why that was so shocking.
Never remember Hawaii and Alaska for any of these. Always just darting around the lower 48 trying ever more desperate guesses - "maybe houses are really expensive in Alabama!" and then there they are, Hawaii and Alaska.
I too was surprised about the absence of Connecticut – and also Virginia, for those same reasons you gave. (Aside from the entirety of Northern Virginia being a DC-commuter bedroom community, most of the top five counties with the highest average home prices are there.) But then I remembered that both CT and VA still have a LOT of very rural areas, and like, Mennonites and stuff. ;-D
I would think you'd be kind of excited, assuming you might consider moving in retirement to a lower cost state or country. That equity can go a long ways.
I am not surprised by this - but reminds me once again, how much cheaper houses are in the USA compared to UK. I live in a pretty average UK house - and it is probably worth around $500,000.
One theory: A quick typist can enter an awful lot of states at random in the time allotted. I suppose there is no way to factor in a penalty for incorrect answers.
As a Realtor, I'd love know where you got your incorrect statistics - ah, just noticed it says Zillow. I didn't bother to even try when the two states with the highest housing costs did not appear. Zillow's data is notoriously wrong. Try Realtor.com or a government site. Zillow's "zestimates" on houses not currently for sale or not sold recently are notoriously high and incorrect. It even overpriced the owner of Zillow's own home by almost $2 million dollars. The only accurate measure of value of home is comparisons to homes sold recently (banks calculate between 90 to 180 days past). The numbers you have are unsupportable.
Post your sources. There is no way that two states not on this list have higher average house prices than California or Hawaii. Zillow isn't always correct, but it's good enough on average.
I assume it is based on sale prices that Zillow has compiled (a statistic they track), rather then "Zestimates." So these numbers should be fairly accurate.
I find it hard to believe Virginia isn't in the top ten. Homes here in Northern Virginia are SO expensive. I guess the rest of the state balance the prices.
The suburbia/redneck frontier keeps getting pushed further west and further south (used to be Centreville and Woodbridge, now it's around Warrenton and Fredericksburg) but get past that and it gets pretty cheap. That's most of the state.
Maybe compared to our income, sure, but both SF and NYC are among the most expensive places to live in the world in terms of housing costs. Places like Singapore can feel more expensive since the housing costs almost as much but the average salary is like a third that of SF/NYC.
Large family size often equals a larger house. I don't think Utah would be on this list if you were comparing, say, the average price of a three bedroom, two bathroom house.
I live in a 4 bedroom 3 bathroom house and its worth 950,000. It was built in 2003 and we just finished our backyard. I am also in the more expensive part of the state and on the way to my school there are five $4,000,000+ homes and many other lots for houses just as big to be built.
I'm sure a lot of people will be surprised with Utah at 7. But it has the highest rate of population growth in the nation, highest median home size, land availability near urban centers is increasingly scarce due to growth and geography, plus it's gorgeous scenery. Won't be surprised if it breaks the top 5 soon.
No kidding -- Ontario as a province is near a million for a house. Within the GTA, the price climbs. If you want a three bdrm home in a Toronto suburb, you need a rich childless aunt to die. I live in one of the poorest neighbourhoods in one of the poorest cities and my 3 bdrm house is worth more than average state price except Hawaii and California.
Wasn't Maryland on here before? Maybe home prices there are falling relative to the rest of the country. And did Idaho just shoot up the rankings? Don't remember them before and that seems by far the oddest inclusion. No surprises in the top 5, though.
Annoying Californians are ruining my state. I swear, I see more Californian license plates than Idaho ones. Where I live, I used to be able to buy a two-story, three-bedroom house for around $150,000, now you can hardly find a two-bedroom house for below $300,000!
The United States is definitely the global outlier in this regard. In fact in most of the world, moving out of your parents home at age 18 is unusual. I'm fortunate that my parents didn't kick me out the second high school ended unlike some of my classmates.
obviously, a lot of these depend on where in the state you live. I'm from Massachusetts and my house where it stands is below average but if it was near or in Boston, it would be well above average
Yup, seriously. I would like to move back when I retire but unless things change, I havent been able to find a reasonably priced home anywhere in the State. Very different than when I grew up there.
Not necessarily. As with every state, there are pros and cons. Here in Florida, prices are on a steep incline, making it one of the more expensive, even though it's not within the top 10. I wouldn't base it solely off of average home price anyway. If you are, then Oklahoma, West Virginia, and Mississippi are better options for you.
Yeah, maybe Oklahoma if you can live with the 'culture' there. Double that with a much worse job market in WV and MS. Florida is a good bet, particularly if your ethnic background if hispanic, many places you'd feel more at home.
Oh, just noticed the person asking the question based on the name may be Greek. I would suggest Atlantic coast, not necessarily Florida. There is a big Greek population around the mid-atlantic from North Carolina through Maryland. The owner of the Baltimore Ravens for example was Greek.
...makes sense. Except i'd choose mountains over the beach any day.
We bought our place 25 years ago, before the increase. No fun thinking about moving in retirement.
Oh, just noticed the person asking the question based on the name may be Greek. I would suggest Atlantic coast, not necessarily Florida. There is a big Greek population around the mid-atlantic from North Carolina through Maryland. The owner of the Baltimore Ravens for example was Greek.