Recently an article in the Pensacola News Journal indicated that Pensacola is the 12th most affordable housing market in the nation. This speaks well for our community and the builders and developers who provide housing for this area.
The 12th place finish was announced recently by the National Association of Home Builders, which recently completed their third quarter housing opportunity index for 1994. The index is a way to measure affordability differences across communities by measuring the proportion of homes sold in a market that a household earning the median income in that market could afford to buy.
The index also placed Pensacola as the third most affordable housing market in the South. Ocala and Houma, Louisiana placed ahead of Pensacola. The most affordable housing market in the nation was Lima, Ohio.
Pensacola improved its rating because the survey now more accurately reflects the market conditions. For the first time the housing opportunity index changed the way affordability conditions are determined. The third quarter report for 1994 included measuring differences in property taxes and property insurance rates in each community that is ranked. Indexes before did not use these indicators.
This area generally has low property taxes and property insurance rates as well as attractive lot prices. The actual construction of a home in many instances is lower than many other parts of the nation also.
Ratings showed San Francisco as the nation's most expensive city for housing. In the south, Laredo, Texas was ranked the most expensive city for housing.
According to the National Association of Home Builders, in Lima, a family earning a median income of $38,000 could have purchased 87.4% of the homes sold during the third quarter. In San Francisco, a family earning the median income of $57,600 could afford to purchase just 17.8% of the homes sold in the area in the third quarter. The tabulations for this information were gained from analyzing about 500,000 sales of new and existing homes 185 markets.
Although this is good news for anyone wishing to purchase a new home in this area, our ranking may be lowered. The devastation left by Hurricane Andrew has significantly affected the cost of home owners insurance in Florida. However, this is only one indicator and Northwest Florida should continue to be one of the most affordable places in the country to live.
May not be used without written permission from The Home Builders Association of Northwest Florida.