For those who were worried about being priced out of buying a home, look no further than Detroit, where eighteen homes are listed for $100 or less, and nine listed for one dollar.
According to the website Realtor.com, eighteen homes in Detroit are listed for $100 or less, with six properties listed for $100 and nine listed for $1 dollar. The rest are listed at various amounts in between from $50 to $80 for Detroit real estate.
The first property — a heavily damaged three-bed, two-bath with more than 1400 square feet — listed on the website for one dollar at 13396 Indian Street. The property has an estimated value of $30,925 from Zillow.com, plunging from $84,000 in November 2006.
Another nearly 1300 square foot three-bedroom “fixer-upper” on 9385 Pryor Street in Detroit is also selling for one dollar, but is valued by Zillow at $27,834.
One four bedroom, one bath home in the city listed for $100, has a Zillow estimated value of $25,333, and is currently in foreclosure and owned by the bank.
Zillow has estimated values for 1.7 million homes in Detroit, and Zillow estimates are accurate within 5 percent of the actual sales price for about 28 percent of homes in the city and accurate within 10 percent of the sales price for 51.6 percent of homes.
According to the Michigan Association of Realtors, the average sale price for a home in Detroit in September 2012 was $17,125.
For some reference, the average transaction price for most automobile brands was $30,282 in September 2012, reports Fox News. In other words, you can buy two houses in Detroit for the price of one car.
This trend has been occurring for some time, says Dr. Mark Perry, economist at University of Michigan and scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. Since 2008, the average price of a home in Detroit has been below the average price of a new car.
Perry also said that low housing prices present an opportunity for revival in the city.
“There’s great opportunity for some people to move back into these neighborhoods, fix these houses up, and bring the city back,” he told The Daily Caller News Foundation.
Michigan Live reports that the greater Detroit area ranked 39 out of 212 U.S. metro areas with populations of 200,000 or greater for foreclosure activity in the third quarter of 2012, with 12,170 properties entering foreclosure during that time.
Detroit’s housing situation has reportedly been improving as housing prices have risen for 14 straight months and foreclosure filings have declined for 23 consecutive months in the four-county Detroit area, reports the Detroit Free Press.
“We have solid evidence that housing markets are firming in the Detroit area,” said Robert Dye, Chief Economist at the Dallas-based Comerica Bank Robert. “Rising prices, more sales and increased building activity are all helping to support the Detroit economy.”
However, the greater Detroit area’s unemployment rate still remains significantly higher than the national average — at 12.3 percent in August 2012.
Business Insider reported that Detroit’s unpaid property taxes totaled $17.6 million last year, but the city still prefers homes to be occupied rather than have unsold lots.
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