Housing Prices in North Dakota Ranks Toward the Bottom of This List

When it comes to housing prices in North Dakota, I'm sure you think the state would rank among the highest prices for homes.  Do you think we'd be in the top 10 of the most expensive states? This list may surprise you.

Assets and Opportunity came up with the scorecard. And the methodology is fairly simple. The measure estimates housing affordability relative to income. In a perfect world,  a family with a median household income should "ideally" be able to afford a median-priced home in that area. That is not always the case. In some states, housing costs are out of reach for many.

According to the report, these are the states with the least affordable housing prices, in other words, the personal income is NOT in line with owning a home. For clarity, the follow states are states with the most expensive housing market. We have ranked them 1, 2 and 3. The actual report ranked them 51, 50 and so forth.

1.  (tie) Hawaii and Washington DC - home prices are 7 times higher than median personal income.
2. California - 6.2 higher
3. Massachusetts - 4.9 higher
4. New York - 4.8 higher

North Dakota is ranked at 13 (toward the bottom, with 1 being the best market).  NoDak housing prices are 2.8 higher that the median personal income. The median cost of a home is $155,400. The average yearly salary is just over $55,700.

The state coming in #1 would be Iowa at 2.4 times higher than the median personal income.

The findings are interesting and an eye opener to see how good NoDak is doing in comparison to the rest of  the country. The state leads in healthcare, education and has a very low bankruptcy rate.

Does this surprise you?

(source)