Budget Buyer: Here Are The Top States To Pick Up A Mansion For Under A Mill
Mansion buyers with a budget of $1 million or less should head to Utah, Georgia or Indiana. These states offer the highest concentration of large homes in that price range, according to real-estate listings website Trulia.
In its analysis, Trulia looked at all homes listed between October 2014 and October 2015 that were larger than 6,000 square feet—more than twice the 2,500-square-foot median size of newly built homes—with asking prices under $1 million.
Nationwide, only 0.32% of homes larger than 6,000 square feet fell under the $1 million mark. The states with the highest concentration: Utah (1.4%), Georgia and Indiana (0.9%), and Maryland (0.8%). States with the fewest such mansions are Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii and California, with a mere 0.1%, the data show.
The variation is largely the result of construction and land costs, experts say.
“The cost just to build the home in many parts of the country would take up about half of that million dollars,” says Ralph McLaughlin, Trulia’s housing economist.
In Utah and Georgia, building a high-end home runs about $70 per square foot, or $420,000 for a 6,000-square-foot home, he says. In California and Hawaii, the number is closer to $100 per square foot, or $600,000.
High energy and water costs in Arizona and Nevada and a less expensive construction-permitting process in Utah may also play a role, says Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, a trade group. ( News Corp, which owns The Wall Street Journal, also owns Realtor.com, the listing website of NAR.)
Phil Luizzo, founder of a pre-employment screening firm, recently listed his 5.5-acre estate in a rural part of New Smyrna Beach, Fla., for $850,000. The home has about 17,000 square feet of covered space, including a pool with a swim-up bar, a guest cabin, two barns and a go-kart track. If it were on the beach, it could fetch $3 million, says listing agent Jodie Stratton. Continue reading > > >
via WSJ
No Comments