What? Condos now worth more than houses?!
Yep, it’s true. The National Association of Realtors reported that in fourth quarter of 2005 the national median price of a condo ($223,500) was higher than that of a single-family home ($218,600.) Of course for regular readers of this blog, it’ll come as no surprise – we know what we want, and we know what our peers want – affordability, walkability, convenience, entertainment… and the fact that married with kids’ are less than 20% of net new household growth.
Read the full story in the Wall Street Journal, but hurry as the article is no longer free after Aug. 26. Here’s what a couple of the condo buyers in the article had to say:
“I’m so excited to actually be moving to a place that offers Central Park-style living without having to fly to New York to get it.”
“You can’t get back time, so I like to spend my free time doing what I like doing, not shoveling snow or taking care of a lawn.”
Unfortunately, there’s a lot of greed going around with speculators reserving units early to sell them at higher prices to people who really want to live there. All I can say is, get in early, or find an honest seller!
Image: Lofts two blocks down from my infamous workplace.
What do you think of this role reversal between condos and houses? Good or bad? Speak your mind below…
About The Author
Our business is cleaning common areas in condos — and while we see the upsides of condo living, we also see the downsides. And there are a lot of downsides of living “high density”. From board politics and pushy people demanding the building redecoration, cleaning and living be done their way, to incompetent property management and bad workers being hired for on site jobs, and to people living there flaunting the rules and causing a lot of damage that they don’t or won’t or can’t pay for. And the number once complaint in condos — noise. There is never enough sound proofing — especially with the advent of “Super Bass”.
I do love your website and agree with a lot of what you are saying, but there has to be a place for single family homes in the mix. I like having my own house, with no one above me or below me to get angry when I turn the volume “up to 11”. And no one should have the right to tell me what I can or can’t do in my own space, or what color to paint my outside, or how many cats I can own (Yeah — we’re up to ten…).
Hubby does want to live in a urban area, and I love the idea of walking instead of driving everywhere. One of the places I’ve been looking at online (when you have your own business and no employees you travel vicariously through the internet) is the Southside in Pittsburgh, PA. There seems to be a nice mix of condos and single family homes in a walkable area with restaurants, clubs and bookstores. And luckily, since we live in Bay Area of California, our equity should cover where ever we choose to move when we retire…
And to answer the question — we need more high density housing for all the people, so condo prices will keep going up (which hopefully will make my single family home get cheaper…).
I, too, am in the Bay Area and looking for a “cottage” style home in an area that is walkable (I hate driving), and cultural. I lived in Boulder, Colorado, which really meets those needs, however, condos are the only affordable places there now. I don’t need a big house, just a “cool” area to live in. I’m from Buffalo, NY, originally, and the West Side of Buffalo is a nice mix of apartments and houses with good walkability — unfortunately, bad winters and a bad economy — but the area could lend itself to becoming a “cool” town like it was in the past.