Several Metrics Graded on a 100-point Scale to Make the Ranking.
By Zach Armstrong
The City of Santa Monica was listed as the third least affordable city in the U.S. by WalletHub’s “2023’s Most Affordable Cities for Home Buyers”.
The website used several metrics graded on a 100-point scale to make the ranking. Those included housing affordability, maintenance affordability, cost of Homeowner’s Insurance, cost of living, real estate tax, rent-to-price ratio and vacancy rate. Santa Monica was ranked lowest for rent-to-price ratio and 239th lowest for housing affordability.
Seven of the eight least affordable cities listed in the ranking were California cities. The least affordable was Santa Barbara, the second least was Berkely, fourth was Glendale, fifth was Burbank, sixth was Los Angeles and eight was Pasadena.
Median home sales prices went from $313,000 in 2019 to $436,800 in 2023, according to WalletHub. The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate also increased in that time period from 2.65% to 6.39%.
The most affordable cities were Montgomery, AL; Flint, MI; Toledo, OH; Detroit, MI; and Akron, OH.
