{"id":431,"date":"2006-11-03T12:34:00","date_gmt":"2006-11-03T19:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/?p=431"},"modified":"2007-06-20T11:29:12","modified_gmt":"2007-06-20T18:29:12","slug":"a-question-of-affordability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/2006\/11\/03\/a-question-of-affordability\/","title":{"rendered":"A Question Of Affordability"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.CNNTable {margin: 5px auto;} .CNNTable td {padding: 0px 5px; text-align: center; font-size: .9em;} .top_row {font-weight: bold;}<\/style>\n<p>It is generally accepted that the more desirable an area is, the less affordable it is to live there, and specifically, to buy a home.  For instance, homes in San Francisco have always been ridiculously expensive\u2014even considering the higher median income there\u2014because it&#8217;s considered by many to be a highly desirable place to live.<\/p>\n<p>For reference, here are the affordability indices (<a href=\"http:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/2006\/06\/19\/seattle-soft-landing-do-the-math\/\" title=\"Seattle Soft Landing: Do The Math\">definition<\/a>) for a few cities (using county-wide data from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.city-data.com\/\" title=\"City-Data.com\">City-Data.com<\/a>) around the country as of the year 2000.<\/p>\n<table class=\"CNNTable\" border=\"1\" cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\">\n<tr class=\"top_row\">\n<td>City<\/td>\n<td>Afford.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><a href=\"http:\/\/www.city-data.com\/county\/Harris_County-TX.html\" title=\"City-Data.com: Harris County, TX\">Houston, TX<\/a><\/td>\n<td>204<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><a href=\"http:\/\/www.city-data.com\/county\/St._Louis_County-MO.html\" title=\"City-Data.com: St. Louis County, MO\">St. Louis, MO<\/a><\/td>\n<td>181<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><a href=\"http:\/\/www.city-data.com\/county\/Minnehaha_County-SD.html\" title=\"City-Data.com: Minnehaha County, SD\">Sioux Falls, SD<\/a><\/td>\n<td>176<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><a href=\"http:\/\/www.city-data.com\/county\/Maricopa_County-AZ.html\" title=\"City-Data.com: Maricopa County, AZ\">Phoenix, AZ<\/a><\/td>\n<td>147<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><a href=\"http:\/\/www.city-data.com\/county\/Miami-Dade_County-FL.html\" title=\"City-Data.com: Miami-Dade County, FL\">Miami, FL<\/a><\/td>\n<td>121<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><a href=\"http:\/\/www.city-data.com\/county\/King_County-WA.html\" title=\"City-Data.com: King County, WA\">Seattle, WA<\/a><\/td>\n<td>94<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><a href=\"http:\/\/www.city-data.com\/county\/Suffolk_County-MA.html\" title=\"City-Data.com: Suffolk County, MA\">Boston, MA<\/a><\/td>\n<td>88<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><a href=\"http:\/\/www.city-data.com\/county\/San_Diego_County-CA.html\" title=\"City-Data.com: San Diego County, CA\">San Diego, CA<\/a><\/td>\n<td>87<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><a href=\"http:\/\/www.city-data.com\/county\/San_Francisco_County-CA.html\" title=\"City-Data.com: San Francisco County, CA\">San Francisco, CA<\/a><\/td>\n<td>58<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><a href=\"http:\/\/www.city-data.com\/county\/New_York_County-NY.html\" title=\"City-Data.com: New York County, NY\">New York, NY<\/a><\/td>\n<td>20<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<p>I think most people would agree that <em>in general<\/em>, cities that are lower on this list are more desirable.  Obviously everyone has different opinions and preferences about what they like in a city.  When I say that City A is &#8220;more desirable&#8221; than City B, I am not making any personal value judgment, but rather all I am saying is that some statistically significant percentage of people would prefer to live in City A if given the choice.<\/p>\n<p>Allow me to lay out the point of this post in a very logical way.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Premise:<\/strong> More desirable = less affordable (and vice versa)<br \/>\n<strong>Fact:<\/strong> King County&#8217;s affordability index <a href=\"http:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/2006\/10\/20\/a-california-comparison-part-2\/\" title=\"A California Comparison, Part 2\">dropped 26.7 points<\/a> 2000\u20142005.<br \/>\n<strong>Fact:<\/strong> The affordability indices of many less-desirable locations were either stagnant or increased from 2000 to 2005.<sup><a href=\"#110306foot1\">1<\/a><\/sup><br \/>\n<strong>Query:<\/strong> How has King County become 29% more desirable since 2000?<\/p>\n<p>This is a completely serious question.  If affordability was dropping nation-wide, then I could buy the argument that massive home price gains are due to &#8220;fundamentals.&#8221;  However, that is simply not the case.  Huge increases in home prices have been largely limited to cities on the coasts.<\/p>\n<p>If someone would care to make an argument explaining how our area is 29% more desirable now than it was in 2000, I&#8217;m all ears.  Otherwise, I&#8217;m inclined to believe that the 29% affordability drop has more to do with speculation than with &#8220;fundamentals.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"110306foot1\" name=\"110306foot1\"><\/a><sup>1<\/sup><span style=\"font-size: 85%\">For instance, the affordability index for St. Louis, MO dropped <em>just 4 points<\/em> from 2000 to 2005 (<a href=\"http:\/\/factfinder.census.gov\/servlet\/ACSSAFFFacts?_event=Search&amp;_lang=en&amp;_sse=on&amp;geo_id=05000US29189&amp;_county=St.+Louis+County&amp;_state=04000US29\" title=\"St. Louis County, Missouri - Fact Sheet - American FactFinder\">source<\/a>), while the index for Houston, TX actually <em>increased<\/em> 20 points (<a href=\"http:\/\/factfinder.census.gov\/servlet\/ACSSAFFFacts?_event=Search&amp;_lang=en&amp;_sse=on&amp;geo_id=05000US48201&amp;_county=Harris+County&amp;_state=04000US48\" title=\"Harris County, Texas - Fact Sheet - American FactFinder\">source<\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It is generally accepted that the more desirable an area is, the less affordable it is to live there, and specifically, to buy a home. For instance, homes in San Francisco have always been ridiculously expensive\u2014even considering the higher median income there\u2014because it&#8217;s considered by many to be a highly desirable place to live. For&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[],"tags":[28],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-affordability"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A Question Of Affordability \u2022 Seattle Bubble<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/2006\/11\/03\/a-question-of-affordability\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"A Question Of Affordability \u2022 Seattle Bubble\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"It is generally accepted that the more desirable an area is, the less affordable it is to live there, and specifically, to buy a home. For instance, homes in San Francisco have always been ridiculously expensive\u2014even considering the higher median income there\u2014because it&#8217;s considered by many to be a highly desirable place to live. For...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@The_Tim\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@SeattleBubble\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"The Tim\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/2006\/11\/03\/a-question-of-affordability\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/2006\/11\/03\/a-question-of-affordability\/\",\"name\":\"A Question Of Affordability \u2022 Seattle Bubble\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2006-11-03T19:34:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2007-06-20T18:29:12+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/7de7c0dd14bee1a2c67f7ce86bc4505f\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/2006\/11\/03\/a-question-of-affordability\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/2006\/11\/03\/a-question-of-affordability\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/2006\/11\/03\/a-question-of-affordability\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Question Of Affordability\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Seattle Bubble\",\"description\":\"local\u00a0real\u00a0estate\u00a0news, statistics,\u00a0and\u00a0commentary without\u00a0the\u00a0sales\u00a0spin.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/7de7c0dd14bee1a2c67f7ce86bc4505f\",\"name\":\"The Tim\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/37756956c11dcc50d2559761ffa5ee70\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/19e5770990a1681615608091b2de571b10c3e03bbac7d07bb2ae15297ee72fbc?s=96&d=retro&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/19e5770990a1681615608091b2de571b10c3e03bbac7d07bb2ae15297ee72fbc?s=96&d=retro&r=g\",\"caption\":\"The Tim\"},\"description\":\"Tim Ellis is the founder of Seattle Bubble. His background in engineering and computer \/ internet technology, a fondness of data-based analysis of problems, and an addiction to spreadsheets all influence his perspective on the Seattle-area real estate market. 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For instance, homes in San Francisco have always been ridiculously expensive\u2014even considering the higher median income there\u2014because it&#8217;s considered by many to be a highly desirable place to live. 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