TRAVERSE CITY -- The Grayling area is among two Michigan housing markets listed among the most affordable in the country in a new national housing study.
Eight out of the top 10 most expensive housing markets in the U.S. are in California, while eight Midwestern cities -- including Jackson and Grayling in Michigan -- are among the 10 most affordable markets, according to the Coldwell Banker Home Price Comparison Index released Tuesday.
The study compared the average value of 2,200-square-foot houses with four bedrooms, two and a half baths, a family room and a two-car garage across 315 U.S. markets. The average sales price for such a home in Grayling totaled $144,000, the fifth-most affordable market in the U.S. Jackson ranked second with an average home price of $134,325.
The results underscore the vast disparity in how much homeowners in different markets pay essentially for the same amount of living space. The sharpest contrast was found between La Jolla, Calif., and Sioux City, Iowa -- the most expensive and most affordable cities, respectively, tracked in the study.
In La Jolla, an upscale seaside suburb of San Diego, the average price of homes tracked by the study was about $1.8 million. In contrast, the average price of a similarly-sized home in Sioux City was $133,459 -- about 13 times more expensive.
"Areas where there's water and nice climate and ocean and mountains, people are going to pay more for that," said Jim Gillespie, chief executive of Coldwell Banker Real Estate.
Overall, the average sales price of the homes that met the survey criteria was $403,738, a drop of 4.4 percent from 2007.
That reflects the decline in the U.S. housing market since the housing boom fizzled.
After Sioux City and Jackson, the Akron, Ohio, market ranked third among the most-affordable markets at $135,780.
Canton, Ohio; Minot, N.D.; Arlington, Texas; Muncie, Ind.; Killeen, Texas; and Eau Claire, Wis., rounded out the 10 most affordable markets.
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