Bay Area cities that rank the worst for new home buyers
Million-dollar starter homes top California markets
The number of cities where a starter home comes with a million-dollar price tag has tripled in the past 5 years. According to Zillow, California has the highest number, with many of them in the Bay Area. Deidre Joyner from Red Oak Realty, joined us on 'The Nine' for more insight into this growing trend.
OAKLAND, Calif. - Everybody who is working, living, and basically just trying to survive these days is feeling the pinch of financial stress.
But the pressures of crime, inflation, and housing prices have landed several Bay Area cities at the top of the list for the worst places in America for first-time home buyers. And there’s a variety of disheartening reasons.
One East Bay city plummeted to last place for new home buyers because quality of life is in the tank, according to an analysis by WalletHub. Another city is the worst place for renters. And a third took the top spot among small cities because of its outrageously unaffordable housing.
WalletHub evaluators considered three key metrics to create the rankings: 1) affordability, 2) real estate market, and 3) quality of life.
Buying a home is a major milestone that many people in the Bay Area have written off as impossible because of the extreme conditions that have made it difficult and stressful to enter the real estate market. With reports of a ‘doom loop’ in San Francisco, well-established businesses closing down, and crime feeling like a never-ending tidal wave, it’s no surprise that many Bay Area cities have soured as unattractive markets.
Here are the cities in the Bay Area that took the top spots for all the wrong reasons:
- Oakland: Worst Quality of Life and Highest Property Crime RateQuality of Life rankings considered the job market, violent and property crime, and the quality of the school system was given double weight.
- Berkeley: Least Affording Housing and Worst Ranking Overall for Small Cities (<150k people) Housing Affordability ranking was calculated by comparing Median House Price to Median Annual Household Income.
- Sunnyvale: Worst Rent-to-Price RatioCompares the economics of whether renting or owning a similar property is cheaper. A dramatic increase in the ratio is a red flag that the market is in a housing bubble.
Click here to see the complete list of cities and their rankings from WalletHub.