'Starter homes' cost at least $1 million in over 200 U.S. cities, Zillow data finds

Get off your ass and get 50+ full time jobs you lazy fucks!
- And stop earning avocados.
  
  Stop eating avocados. Start eating landlords.
  Tough to stomach at first, but very good for you and the community.
- If I keep paying the current $1200 a month to my landlord it'll eventually trickle down to me. No doubt!
  Then with that revenue, I'll buy my first house!
  In reality, I'm almost 28 and I have no delusions about home ownership. Just like retirement!
  
  Only 1200 a month?
  God I wish.
  
  My only hope of home ownership around here is waiting for my parents to die and inheriting one. That said, I keep telling them to sell all their shit, move somewhere cheaper, and retire for fuck's sake, so we'll see how that pans out.

Zillow is a part of the problem. With all the data collected and only a few companies, prices are conveniently increasing at extreme rates. It is not just cities; land and rural areas are increasing at high rates.
- The real issue is the commodification of housing. Houses shouldn't make people money; they are supposed to be homes to live in.
  
  This! We have the means to provide housing for everyone but don't because, fuck you thats why.
  
  Nothing wrong with houses as individual investments. Why the hell else would you dump that kinda money and pay ALL the upkeep for decades?! You write the interest off your taxes, have something to show for 30 years of payments when you retire.
  Also, nothing wrong with a landlord owning a few homes. He likely ain't making shit and is taking huge risks. Yes, it'll pay out someday, hopefully.
  The issue is corporate home ownership and, to a lesser extent, B&Bs. Yes, a bank can easily "own" hundreds or thousands of homes. After all, they provide loans and sometimes have to foreclose. But banks renting homes?! Fuck no.
  This is easily solvable with legislation, not even "devil is in the details" complexity. We drop the hammer on these corporate landlords, tax the fucking snot out them and run them out of the game. Same goes for entities sitting on real estate, waiting on prices to go up. Tax the hell out of empty homes that have been on the market X days.
  The issue is corporate landlords. Rent didn't used to be like this, it was competitive. My first place was a shithole in college, $250/mo. (I'd happily live there again were I a bachelor.) Same place should be $630. Anyone seen rent that low for anything outside renting a single room in a house?
- Speaking of which, zillow's stupid "zestimate" is worthless. Any assclown can put their house up for way too high a price and the zestimate will automatically jump up to match.
  Apparently the value is whatever the seller says it is, even if the home has been on the market for over a year (either continuously or repeatedly taken off and put on, I guess to reset the time on market).

Guess it's a nonstarter.
- A starter home?! This home is a finisher home! A shelterer of gods! The GOLDEN GOD!
  I am untethered, and my rage knows no bounds!
  
  You rang?
- * curb your enthusiasm theme plays *
- Living in a VAN down by the RIVER!
  
  I'll be able to afford a van and have a river view?
  Vanlife here I come!

This.....is hard to believe. I've been looking around non-major US cities, and even some major cities, and the starter homes are around 200-500k.
That's still fucked for a starter home but a million?????? That's the average home price in Honolulu and NYC lol.
- i was going to say its avg in the west coast blue area. 200-500k is "cheap"
- It literally sounds super fake.
  I can't find a single major city without 200k to 350k homes lol
  It takes like 30 seconds to check what starter homes cost in any city, yet people will believe this shit instead of just go look.
  Edit: this is the "source" https://www.zillow.com/research/million-dollar-start-home-2025-35100/
  Just 1 chart with literally zero further info, no published actual data of where these numbers came from, how they calculated them, how they gathered the data.
  Why do people fall for empty garbage articles like this so easy. I wish we collectively called this out more.
  If a person posts an article citing another article, instead of just the original article, they should get fuckin blasted for it and downvoted to hell.
  Post. Original. Sources.
  
  As someone who has lived in and priced out homes in major US cities, I find this article to be accurate.
  
  Try looking in San Francisco, or any city in the entire Bay Area. You won't find a 500sq ft shack for less than $800k.
  
  I quite kiterally cant find anything in my city for less than 900k, and they are rare
  
  Doesn't sound super fake if you are looking for a place with what I think are pretty reasonable basic characteristics of comfort and security.
  House that can accommodate a small family not in a higher than average crime area, does not require fix up maintenance that those of us working long hours will never have time to do or can't afford to have done, has been well cared for and doesn't feel gross. I'm not talking luxury homes here, I'm just talking about something that you would at least look forward to coming home to.
  When I see all these people buying these homes, I'm just shocked at how they have either accrued so much wealth or are so comfortable with so much debt.
  It's pretty tough out there right now.
  
  Zillow wrote a garbage article without the data they claim to have used, which was then copied without any added value, to be linked here. I want to know, starting with their definition of a city and their definition of a starter home

This is the inevitable result of infinite growth. You aren't getting a home in world class locations without being at the very top yourself. Sure other people lucked into the right place and the right time. Go buy lottery tickets. Or set down in location that is more affordable. With any luck you'll be a multimillionaire when you're elderly too. And the kids of the year 2060 will hate you for the dastardly plot you schemed up with your friends to ruin everything.
We're all part of the rat race that is fucking us over. Nobody wants to flinch. So we continue to eat each other alive.

This recommends 2 to 3 years of annual income to be the price of your house
So... how many of yall are making $300k a year?
How Britain almost solved the housing crisis

"Why do we have so many homeless?"

Well... define starter home. I got a starter for about half that in LA but I have a shared wall townhome. Not great, but if we're talking no shared walls and a yard, ya I can see that costing more... Except I also saw those for about this price, only with like... 600sq ft? Pick you battles, but those aren't a million even in the city.
Now, maybe the 200 cities are specific neighborhoods, like how Santa Monica isn't technically Los Angeles since it's got it's own city government. Same with Beverly Hills, Bel Air, etc. You sure as hell ain't getting a place for 1 mil there, even if it's a small "starter home."
- All of your question are answered right at the beginning of the article:
  "Zillow defines “cities” as distinct housing markets, which can include large suburbs, towns or boroughs within major metro areas. “Starter homes” are defined as properties in the bottom third of home values within a given market. That means these aren’t luxury listings — they’re the least expensive homes available in each city."
  
  Gotcha. So yes, it's misleading headline, mostly for the first part since you can probably pull up 200 "cities" where you'd be nuts to find your first home. You aren't getting your first home in Malibu, that's just silly.

Updated 1400 sf 3 bed 1 bath $1M where I live.
- It's $1.5M near me

Just don’t live in a city geez
Edit: Yes, my quest for downvotes is successful.
I aim to be karma neutral on the fediverse and had a pretty good day I need to counteract.
- A couple years ago this was the "just don't live in California" argument.
  
  just don’t live
  
  People take this advice, move to a lower COL area and rise the COL.
  People that handed the advice now complains that they can't afford to live in their not-so-low-COL-anymore area
- That’s where the jobs are.
  Not much for good paying work in podunk towns.
  
  Just commute for an hour to work every day. Ew, no, we don’t want to fund buses, that’s for poors. Pay for it yourself.
- At which point, Id have to spend the money saved on housing on buying, fueling, maintaining and insuring a car, if I was even able to drive one in the first place.
  
  Just work from home, jeez

And you wonder why the young folk vote for conservatives...
- 1 they don't 2 why would thismake them?