It costs a bundle to live on Long Island, and housing price drops caused by the subprime collapse haven’t changed that.
Out of 201 metro areas, Nassau-Suffolk has the 15th most expensive home ownership market, with median home prices hovering at $450,000, according to The Center for Housing Policy, the research affiliate of the Washington, D.C.-based National Housing Conference.
In the rental market, Long Island is the seventh most expensive out of 210 metro regions, according to the center's study. It based its research on rent for two-bedroom apartments and found that they went for $1,356 on Long Island.
New York City is the seventh most expensive in terms of home ownership, with the median price at $525,000, the data showed. But it actually did better than Long Island in the rent rankings -- No. 16 -- with a two-bedroom apartment going for $1,189, the study found.
The research was done on 2007 housing prices from the third quarter, just when the subprime mortage market collapsed. San Francisco topped both lists, showing a median home price of $770,000 and two-bedroom rental at $1,551.
Another study from the center, Paycheck to Paycheck, took the five highest-growth occupations projected for 2006-2016 and looked at the number of metro area markets that were affordable for salaries earned in those occupations.
For example, food preparation workers were priced out of home ownership and two-bedroom rentals in all the markets; they could afford one-bedrooms in only a few metro areas.
On the other end of the scale, nurses could rent without problems in all the markets on the list but owning a home was affordable in about half the areas, the study said.