Philly One of the Most Overpriced Cities of 2015?

Photo by els1124 via Flickr

Would Philly even be on here if it weren’t for Nashville, Kansas City, Little Rock, New Orleans, and others being knocked off for lack of sufficient data? Who knows, but as it stands, it’s in at no. 24 on Forbes’ “America’s Most Overpriced Cities In 2015” list.

According to writer Erin Carlyle, the list was compiled after singling out the largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas and Metropolitan Divisions (i.e. “cities and their surrounding suburbs as defined by the Office of Management and Budget”), and then examining their most recent housing stats (in this case, 2014’s fourth quarter), as provided by the National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo. “The quarterly index weighs median prices for homes sold against median income levels to determine the percentage of homes that are affordable to residents making the median income,” writes Carlyle.

Their findings? Philadelphia has a median income of $75,807, while the Q4 2014 median sales price was $212,000. The percentage of housing affordable at median family income was 69.4%, with the following additional expenses going above the national average:

Groceries: 16%; Utilities: 24.4%; Transportation: 5.4%; Health: 1.3%; Misc.: 13.2%

We last reported HSH.com had estimated that in order to afford a median-priced home in Philadelphia, at that time noted as $213,300, as well as the interest, taxes and insurance payments, one would have to make at least $50,914.04. And even then we’d probably still have to hone a distinct thriftiness:

Why? It’s actually higher–over $7,500 more on average– if you’re not putting down that intimidating 20% figure–$42,660 in this case. It rounds out to a payment of just under $1,200 per month. It’s worth noting that these numbers are merely estimates, given that things like property taxes and the cost of insurance varies.

For what it’s worth, Honolulu, Hawaii took the top spot on the list.

America’s Most Overpriced Cities In 2015 [Forbes]