Thursday, February 8, 2007

Key Factor That Boosts Home Values

An interesting study has just been concluded by the National Association of Home Builders that identifies how various features in a home impact the property's value. The association's Housing Economics Department created a house price estimator, based on data from the American Housing Survey, a nationally representative survey of about 60,000 housing units conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau in odd-numbered years.

Waterfront locations have the most significant positive effect on home values, the study determined. This applies to homes in every census region and in every type of setting. For example, being on the waterfront raises the value of a standard home in a Midwestern suburb by an average of 43 percent, and in a non-metro areas in the South by 44 percent. In the central city of a large California metro area, being on or near water raises the value of a home by 41 percent.

The characteristic with the largest negative effect on home values is the presence of abandoned buildings within one-half block or about 300 feet of the home. Bothersome trash, industrial buildings, inadequate shopping and bad roads also have a significant negative effects on the price of a home. For more information about the house price estimator, check out the model online at: www.nahb.org/estimator/.

(Source: www.jimwoodard.net)

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