Housing Prices in Springfield, IL
According to the Springfield Chamber of Commerce, “Springfield and Sangamon County offer a wide variety of housing options at costs that are among the lowest in the United States. For quarter one of 2010, Springfield ranked twenty-third nationwide “ . (Commerce n.d.) . So it was not surprising to me that my survey of houses around the Springfield area was below the national average. Even though Springfield has been affected by the real estate collapse, more residents were able to take advantage of the homeownership credit and other programs initiated by the feds to spur home sales. Residents in Springfield are able to buy homes below the $250,000 national average because cost of living tends to be lower than the national average.
I surveyed thirty homes in the Springfield area. The average price of houses in Springfield rounded to the nearest thousand is $150,000, the median is $121,000 and the mode is $202,000. Depending on what side of town you wanted to stay on, you could spend anywhere from $23,000 to $490,000 to buy a home in Springfield. $490,000 will get you a very plush place in a very high end area of town, while $23,000 will get you a house that needs lot of repairs in a high crime area of Springfield. Right in the middle is the $121,000 to $201,000 homes. For this amount you could buy a large tri-level 3 bed 3 bath large family room with wood burning fireplace, recreation room with a 4 ½ car garage covered patio. Also included will be amenities like a new furnace, new AC, roof, water heater and good neighbors. Add a $100,000 to get approximately $250,000 which is the national average price and you could get of more square footage with 3 bedrooms, 3 full bath, finished basement, 3 fireplaces, professional landscaping and patio. Not bad, considering that in a big city like Chicago $250,000 can only buy you a condo. Condo’s in Springfield range from $30,000 to $60,000 and are very spacious places to live if you do not want to worry about outside maintenance. If you do not mind living in a high crime area, $60,000 can buy you a three bedroom home. The only problem with this is after you buy this, the value of your property can go down really quickly. On a higher end, $90,000 can buy you a three bedroom in a pretty descent neighborhood. Your kids can feel safe here and your property value does not decline so quickly.
Springfield residents are able to enjoy more of their disposable income because less is spent on the basics of living.
Works Cited
Commerce, Greater Springfield Chamber of. Economic Development. http://www.gscc.org/econdev/col.asp (accessed May 09, 2011).
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