The median price of a home for sale in America is about $400,000, the highest level it has ever been. Fewer and fewer people can afford these homes, and mortgage rates have risen. However, there are a few places buyers can go where home prices are under $200,000. Detroit leads that list.
According to Realtor.com’s Homes for Less Than $200K?! Yes, They Do Exist—and Here Are the Cities Where You Can Find the Most, the percentage of home listings for under $200,000 is 39% in Detroit. This is based on homes currently for sale.
Unfortunately, Detroit has lost half its population since 1950 and is still shrinking. The poverty rate in Detroit is over 30%. In short, most people would never move there. Detroit also has thousands of unoccupied homes. Realtor.com said, “Until those abandoned homes have been cleaned up or leveled, the prices aren’t going to be climbing like the suburbs.”
Pittsburgh is next on the list, with the homes listed at under $200,000 at 32%. At least part of the city is thriving and not considered a dying metro.
Third on the list is another dying city. Cleveland’s sub-$200,000 home percentage is 31%. Cleveland is another of America’s old industrial cities that industrial companies have deserted.
| City | Listings | % |
|---|---|---|
| Detroit | 3,926 | 39 |
| Pittsburgh | 2,026 | 32 |
| Cleveland | 1,598 | 31 |
| St. Louis | 1,622 | 22 |
| Baltimore | 1,202 | 17 |
| Birmingham | 873 | 20 |
| Chicago | 3,662 | 15 |
| Memphis | 711 | 17 |
| Indianapolis | 879 | 15 |
| Rochester | 923 | 40 |
Many of the balance of the cities are also shrinking, and a high percentage of their citizens live below the poverty line. (Click here for how fast the economy grew in each state last year.)
The Realtor.com list is interesting, but the cities are not destinations for most people, even if they have cheap home prices.
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