The bar for entry-level homeownership has never been higher. While the typical starter home nationwide is worth $198,649, a record 242 cities now have starter homes valued at $1 million or more, according to a new Zillow® analysis . A typical "starter home" is defined for this analysis as a home in the lowest third of home values in a given region. The count of cities with million-dollar starter homes has grown from 226 cities a year ago, even as affordability pressures have begun to ease in parts of the country. The effects of the pandemic housing boom have proven durable. A housing shortage , a decade in the making, ran headlong into intense demand amid historic lows in mortgage rates, driving up home values at a record pace. While plenty of markets are still feeling the pinch of this price reset, conditions are slowly becoming friendlier for buyers: The typical home buyer now breaks even relative to renting after roughly six years, down from more than eight years in late 2023. "The
  • TheDemonBuer@lemmy.world
    2·
    2 days ago

    “Million-dollar starter homes are popping up in more Northeast cities because the housing shortage there hasn’t been solved,” said Ng. “Sun Belt markets have responded with new supply and seen price growth moderate as a result. The Northeast hasn’t had that relief. Eliminating barriers to building like restrictive zoning is the most direct path to improvement, which is something Zillow is actively advocating for across the country.”

    Yeah, yeah, restrictive zoning. Blah, blah, blah. That’s the solution everyone always offers. But, usually when people talk about “restrictive zoning,” they’re referring to single family only zoning. The zoning laws say you can’t build multi family housing, but people don’t want multi family housing anyway. People want detached, single family homes, which is what the zoning laws say they CAN build. If the zoning laws said you couldn’t build single family homes, then, yeah, that would result in not enough single family homes being built, but the zoning laws say the opposite. They say you can ONLY build single family homes.

    So, if you get rid of the single family only zoning restrictions then you could build more multi family housing, but those are rental properties. People don’t want to rent, they want to own their own home, with a yard.

    Seems to me the real problem is there’s just only so many detached, single family homes you can build on any amount of land. It’s very low density housing, and as such you’re gonna run out of land. Especially if the houses and/or lots are bigger.