Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Housing prices -(was: Saving the Planet - do we use straw bale?)

[M.Studer (mstuder]

Thanks so much for putting the costs in relation to the local housing market
and incomes.  It provides a great deal more perspective on what
affordibility means than just tossing out raw numbers.  Given that folks
from across the nation participate in this list-serve, raw numbers mean
vastly different things to people in different areas of the country (or even
within the same region!housing prices).  For example, in a recent
conversation with a colleague from another part of the country, I learned
that a moderately nice suburban 3 BR brick ranch with a nice yard that goes
for about $110,000 here goes for about $400,000 where she lives.  So when
one talks about a $300,000 home without putting into perspective what the
local housing market, and/or cost of living and/or average income of the
area/ at the time is, most are going to look at it from the perspective of
their region.  So to my colleague, that $300,000 home is affordable housing,
and to me, well that's where them there hoity-toity rich folk live :-)

I would like to encourage others to follow Graham's lead and provide as much
reference as they can to their local factors instead of just tossing out raw
figures in order to to give the rest of us some perspective on what that
"means" in our own terms.  Thanks!
Regards,
Michelle Studer
Canal Fulton, OH

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Graham Meltzer" <graham [at] grahammeltzer.com>
To: <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
Sent: Wednesday, December 24, 2003 4:48 PM
Subject: [C-L]_Saving the Planet - do we use straw bale?


> > From: Elizabeth Stevenson
> >
> > The cost of the common house was added to our mortgages. I'm sure there
is
> a
> > dollar figure somewhere, but I don't know it. My guess is around 230K,
in
> > 1993 housing dollars.
>
> I can help out here.  I have a cost breakdown for Southside Park.
Dwellings
> cost between $85K and $154K (in 1993 dollars),
> They averaged $132K compared with an average house price in Sacramento of
> $150K at the time.  Total project cost was $3.3m.
> The common house cost $250K or $10K per household.
>
> Southside Park is notable for the affordability it acheived, not just for
> the subsidised units,of which there were 5, but for everyone involved.
This
> enabled people on incomes which are relatively low by cohousing standards
to
> buy in,  In 1996 when I surveyed the community, one quarter had annual
> incomes <$20K and another quarter had incomes between $20K and $30K.
> Cheers
> Graham
>
> graham meltzer
> contemporary photography
> 15/27 ballow st, fortitude valley, qld 4006
> ph: 07 3257 4852      web: www.grahammeltzer.com
>
>
>
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