Blue Heron Woods—09/10/2008—SWB area listed as U.S.` 10th most affordable by BusinessWeek.
Back Mt. is 20th on CNNMoney.com list.
By Ron Bartizek rbartizek@timesleader.com
Business & Consumer Editor
Two recent studies have found housing bargains in Northeastern Pennsylvania.
The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metropolitan area was listed as the 10th most affordable in the nation by BusinessWeek magazine, based on data in the latest National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index. And `Back Mountain, PA` is listed 20th on CNNMoney.com`s list of places with the most affordable homes near water.
`Not a town per se, Back Mountain is rather a collection of independent townships near Wilkes-Barre, abutting Pennsylvania`s Endless Mountains. In addition to waterfront housing at Harveys Lake, other developments offer proximity to country clubs and golf courses, the CNNMoney site reads. It lists the median home price as $170,000 and median annual family income of $72,814.
The ranking is based on a variety of data sources. Besides financial advantages, it gives the Back Mountain high marks for air quality and low property taxes, based on rates in effect prior to the current reassessment. Other large variances from the average of CNNMoney.com`s best places list are in median age, 41.8 years vs. 36, and education, with the data showing 56 percent of Back Mountain residents completing at least some college compared to 74 percent on average.
The BusinessWeek analysis based affordability on the combination of incomes and home prices. It showed a median home price of $91,000 in the area that includes Luzerne, Lackawanna and Wyoming counties and a median annual household income of $52,000. According to the magazine`s researchers, that meant 82.5 percent of homes in the market are affordable to median income families.
Realtor Joseph Gilroy was surprised at the Back Mountain`s ranking until he was told it included areas other than Harveys Lake.
`Harveys Lake has gone nuts in the last year,` he said, adding that was despite reassessment.
But the Back Mountain as a whole is very attractive to potential buyers.
`You can buy a very, very affordable house here for $140,000 to $160,000,` Gilroy said.
He cited good schools and easy access to workplaces and shopping as attractions.
`I can find a dozen homes at $170,000 and they will sell here,` he said.
Gilroy said the local market had suffered a severe slowdown along with the rest of the country in the past 90-120 days, but now `things are starting to look positive.`
Fort Smith, Ark., with a median home value of $87,000, was rated the most affordable home-buying market by CNNMoney.com. The BusinessWeek study ranked the Indianapolis area as the nation`s most affordable and the New York-New Jersey area as the least with a median price of $481,000 and only 11.4 percent of homes affordable to median-income families.
