Recent study names Fort Wayne one of best small metro areas for homeownership By Jaclyn Goldsborough of The News-Sentinel Thursday, January 23, 2014 - 6:39 pm Fort Wayne was recently named one of the best small metro areas for homeownership by NerdWallet, a financial data analysis company. The study looked at the top 100 most populous metro areas to determine which have characteristic that are favorable to homebuyers, such as availability, affordability and population growth. Cities were separated into large, medium and small metro areas then ranked by the top 10 cities for each population size. Fort Wayne was named No. 2 in the small metro area comparison due to the high homeownership rate and relatively low homeowner costs. Jaime Ortiz, senior analyst at NerdWallet, said she strives to address topics that are important to consumers. For this study, she wanted to answer one question for consumers - where is one of the best and most affordable places to buy a home. “What stood out to me with Fort Wayne is its really economically diverse. For example, its reported that Boeing might be bringing new jobs to the area. Its not just a popular place for homeowners, but it also attracts a lot of business to the area. Theres really a lot of opportunities for people to have a really great quality of life and a promising career as well in addition to the affordable home,” she said. With the medium household income averaging $4,109 and the median selected monthly homeowner costs at $1,007, the average homeowner spends 24.5 percent of monthly income on homeowner costs. In addition, the homeownership rate for the area ranks high in comparison to cities the same size. Fort Waynes high manufacturing output and diverse groups of employers such as Parkview Health Systems, General Motors and Lincoln Financial Group also affected the study. Greater Fort Wayne was also touted as one of the benefiting factors thanks to the All-America City Award achievement. Fort Wayne only lagged behind Huntsville, Ala., a city with affordable monthly homeowners costs at just 26.6 percent of monthly household income and high ownership rate of 70.9 percent. Fort Wayne surpassed other cities such as Myrtle Beach, Va.; Charleston, W.Va.; Ocala, Fla.; and Naples, Fla More Information Are homes available? The study looked at a metro areas homeownership rate to determine the availability of homes. Since a low homeownership rate is likely a signal of competitive inventory, more options for renters rather than buyers and expensive housing, areas with a high homeownership rate led to a higher overall score. Can you afford to live there? The study looked at median household income and monthly homeowner costs to assess whether residents could live comfortably in the area. NerdWallet used monthly homeowner costs to proxy cost of living. Areas with high median incomes and a low cost of living scored higher. Is the area growing? The study measured population growth to ensure that the area is attracting new residents and exhibiting a trend of upward growth. This is likely a signal of a healthy local economy which is another attractive characteristic for homebuyers. To read the full study visit NerdWallets website.
Posted on: Fri, 24 Jan 2014 18:25:38 +0000
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