Dollars to Door Knobs

Many homebuyers may wonder how much home they can afford. A new Zillow study measures how much space $1 would buy in the largest U.S. metros.

In Mesa, Ariz., one dollar affords 0.96 square inches of space in 2018, slightly less than in 2008 when $1 could by 1.19 square inches. In 1998, Mesans could get more than two inches of space for a buck. The current Zillow Home Value Index reading for Mesa is $240,200. By contrast in Tucson, Ariz., the current ZHVI reading is $181,000, and a dollar of space yields 1.19 square inches. Interestingly, this is up from 2008, 1.16 square inches, but down from the 1998 reading, 2.18 sq inches.

As home values continue to rise, reaching a U.S. median of $218,000 in July and 197 markets experiencing median home values of $1 million or more, it can be hard to grasp just how much space homebuyers are getting for their money relative to other markets. To simplify that question, here’s a graphic representation of how much space a single dollar would buy across the country. For the typical U.S. home, a dollar buys 1.07 square inches of space. In San Francisco, it’s just 0.14 inches. In Memphis, 2.53 inches.

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