Coldwell Banker sampled 88 communities across the Commonwealth for the snapshot survey of asking prices collected in May.
07/01/11 Springfield- Republican Photo by Mark M.Murray- Christian Faustmann, a new Springfield home owner shown infront of his home. SPRINGFIELD – When Christian E. Faustmann’s employer transferred him from Upstate New York to the Pioneer Valley last year, he and his wife Michele for homes not just in Springfield, but in Hadley, East Longmeadow and a number of nearby towns.
They now live on Plumtree Road in Springfield’s Sixteen Acres neighborhood.
“I would almost have to pay double the amount in a nearby home that’s not in Springfield,” he said. “It’s a nice neighborhood. My wife fell in love with it.”
The Faustmanns aren’t the only people finding Springfield an affordable place to buy a home these days. The average four-bedroom, two bathroom home in Springfield listed for $133,404 making the City of Homes the least-expensive housing market in the state and the 133rd least expensive place to buy a home in the country, according to a recently released study by Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC that proves the old chestnut about location, location and location.
Coldwell Banker sampled 88 communities across the Commonwealth for the snapshot survey of asking prices collected in May, according to a news release. Weston was the most expensive community in the state at an average listing price of $1.22 million.
Westfield was the sixth-least expensive at $302,170. Sturbridge was the ninth most affordable at $323,500. East Longmeadow was 15th at an average asking price of $357,893. Wilbraham was 17th at $367,942. Belchertown was 19th at $373,663. Longmeadow was 30th most affordable at $423,384 and Southwick was 36th least expensive at $456,264.
Nationally, Niagara Falls, N.Y., is the most affordable community in the country according to Coldwell Banker with an average listing price of $60,820. Utica, N.Y., the city the Faustmanns lived in before moving here, was the 14th least expensive housing market in the country with an average listing price of $84,195.
Newport Beach, Calif., led the list of most expensive U.S. real estate markets for the second year in a row, with an average home listing price of approximately $2.5 million, according to Coldwell Banker.
Kevin M. Sears, an owner and broker at Sears Real Estate in Springfield and a former president of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors said Boston’s near suburbs are always going to lead the list of the most expensive communities in which to live. He said he’d like to see the more Western Massachusetts communities, like Northampton or Amherst, included in the survey.
“I’m thrilled that Springfield is an affordable community,” he said. “That promotes renters becoming owners. When renters become owners, it builds a sense of community.”
Despite the widespread tornado damaged the city suffered June 1, Springfield has very good housing stock, Sears said.
“If you took a house from the historic district in Forest Park and dropped it in Newton, it would be worth $1 million to $2 million,” Sears said referring to a Boston suburb. “It’s $175,000 here.”
Karl J. Petrick, an assistant professor of economics at Western New England University said the bad part about being affordable is that it indicates that there is just little demand for homes in Springfield.
“This place should be very attractive,” he said. “But where are the jobs?”
Springfield’s median household income is $38,155 a year compared with a national average of $53,712 and a statewide average of $63,477
“The Holy Grail would be attracting people because it is so cheap to get property here,” Petrick said. “That has worked elsewhere. But it is also something that Springfield has been trying to do for a very long time.”