American Home Shield just realeased a new study in which 506,374 Zillow listings were analyzed in order to create the 2022 American Home Size & Price Index, and their findings reveal that New York has the 3rd most expensive homes out of all 50 states, at $421.49 on average per square foot, while NYC has the most expensive homes out of all U.S. cities at $1,519.57 per square foot.
The only states with more expensive homes than New York are Hawaii, at $743.86 per square foot, and California, with $442.70 per square foot.
The study also shows that high-density coastal cities have the most expensive real estate, and this may understandably be driving people to look for cheaper homes elsewhere. From 2020 to 2021 for example, the population of NYC fell 3.5%–the second largest decline of any major U.S. city.
At the same time the shift towards larger homes increased during the pandemic when concerns regarding social distancing and remote work drove many to relocate from urban areas to suburban and rural neighborhoods. Pew Research shows that 53% of Americans surveyed in September 2019 preferred to live in a community where the houses are larger and farther apart, and by July 2021 that number had risen to 60%.
Homes in urban areas also cost more per square foot than those in rural areas. In an urban area such as NYC the average home is just 1 ft2 bigger than that of a Detroit home but costs over 2000% more per square foot–and we’ve probably all seen those crazy videos of people living in glorified closets in NYC for quite an expensive monthly rent.
At the end of the day NYC may be expensive, but there’s also no other city in the world like it, and we’ll take having to shell out some extra cash on rent each month rather than not living here at all!