8 Midwest cities are on list of 10 most affordable

Both Akron and Canton are on the list compiled by Coldwell Banker.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Californians rave about year-round sunshine, temperate climate and easy access to surfing, snowboarding and everything in between. But when it comes to getting the most out of their home-buying dollar, they’ve got nothing on homeowners in the Midwest, a new study suggests.

Eight out of the top 10 most expensive housing markets in the U.S. are in California, while eight Midwestern cities, including Akron and Canton in Ohio, are among the 10 most affordable markets, according to the Coldwell Banker Home Price Comparison Index released Tuesday.

The study compared the average value of 2,200-square-foot houses with four bedrooms, 21‚Ñ2 baths, a family room and a two-car garage across 315 U.S. markets.

The results underscore the vast disparity in how much homeowners in different markets pay essentially for the same amount of living space.

The sharpest contrast was found between La Jolla, Calif., and Sioux City, Iowa — the most expensive and most affordable cities, respectively, tracked in the study.

In La Jolla, an upscale seaside suburb of San Diego, the average price of homes tracked by the study was about $1.8 million. In contrast, the average price of a similarly sized home in Sioux City was $133,459 — about 13 times less expensive.

“Areas where there’s water and nice climate and ocean and mountains, people are going to pay more for that,” said Jim Gillespie, chief executive of Coldwell Banker Real Estate in Parsippany, N.J. “That’s just where people want to live.”

Overall, the average sales price of the homes that met the survey criteria was $403,738, a drop of 4.4 percent from 2007.

That reflects the decline in the U.S. housing market since the housing boom fizzled.

Fewer buyers and rising mortgage defaults have left many markets saddled with a large supply of foreclosed properties and other heavily discounted unsold homes, fueling home price declines.

The price drops have been most severe in California, Arizona, Nevada and Florida — states that saw a rapid surge in prices during the housing boom, but have since borne the brunt of the foreclosure crisis.

Home values in the Midwest, meanwhile, have also taken a beating, in large part because of rising unemployment in states such as Ohio and Michigan.

Even though home price declines have been steeper in California than in the Midwest, the difference in the price of similar-sized homes in coastal markets versus heartland cities remains vast.