The National Association of Realtors have released their quarterly housing report which gives median values and changes. Below are the 20 most expensive markets by median price for a single family home.
| Location | Median $K | Change | |
| 1 | San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | 610.0 | -3.17% |
| 2 | Honolulu, HI | 609.5 | -1.95% |
| 3 | Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine, CA | 536.7 | -3.61% |
| 4 | San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA | 515.1 | -6.43% |
| 5 | New York-Wayne-White Plains, NY-NJ | 448.7 | 1.24% |
| 6 | New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA | 384.8 | -2.31% |
| 7 | NY: Nassau-Suffolk, NY | 383.5 | -3.18% |
| 8 | San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, CA | 379.3 | -3.39% |
| 9 | NY: Newark-Union, NJ-PA | 374.9 | -3.23% |
| 10 | Boulder, CO | 370.3 | 5.08% |
| 11 | Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH | 355.7 | -1.41% |
| 12 | Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV | 340.9 | 2.71% |
| 13 | NY: Edison, NJ | 328.6 | -5.11% |
| 14 | Barnstable Town, MA | 309.7 | -7.61% |
| 15 | Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA | 292.3 | -4.32% |
| 16 | Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | 287.2 | -6.54% |
| 17 | Burlington-South Burlington, VT | 276.2 | 6.39% |
| 18 | Trenton-Ewing, NJ | 255.4 | -1.50% |
| 19 | Atlantic City, NJ | 237.0 | 5.61% |
| 20 | Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT | 236.8 | 0.34% |
The areas are roughly the same as the metropolitan statistical areas used by the US Census.
What this means is that to buy a median priced single family home in the highest priced market you will need a $122,000 down payment and a really great credit score since banks really don’t like approving anything that doesn’t have 20% equity. Of course, there are programs that require a smaller down payment but it’s still more than many people have considering that 64% of Americans cannot pay for a $1000 emergency.
Start saving. Or just don’t buy a house.
