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A starter home now costs $1 million in more than 200 US cities, Zillow report finds

California, New York and New Jersey have the most cities with $1 million starter homes

FILE - Florida home for sale (AP Photo/John Raoux, File) (John Raoux, Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

The price of a starter home is now $1 million or more in more than 200 U.S. cities, according to a report from Zillow.

The real estate company defined a “starter home” as a house priced in the lowest third of home values in any given region.

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Nationwide, the typical starter home costs $196,611.

There are 237 cities where starter homes cost $1 million or more, according to Zillow. That’s up from five years ago when just 84 cities had starter homes at that price point.

Nearly half of those cities are in California —117. New York has 31, New Jersey has 21 and Florida and Massachusetts each have 11.

Zillow also recently reported that buyers need more than $127,000 for a down payment or 35.4%, to comfortably afford a typical U.S. home. In more expensive markets, a median-income household would need to put down more than 80% to keep their payment, including principal and interest, plus property taxes and insurance, at 30% of the typical income for the area. In San Jose, California, that down payment would be $1.3 million.


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