If you're after the nation's best home-buying bargain, move to Kokomo, Ind. The median home price is so low at $88,000 that 95 percent of Kokomo households can afford to buy homes.
But if you don't like harsh Hoosier winters, you could stick to Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater. Because the same home index that ranks Kokomo tops in affordability is surprisingly kind to our region, as well.
According to the National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo, our median family income of $56,500, combined with a median home price of $167,000, allows 60 percent of us to afford a home here. We ranked 114th out of 223 cities, a respectable finish.
The index also sheds light on why the Tampa Bay area should recover its real estate footing faster than most of the rest of Florida. Miami placed nearly dead last on the list, or 217th out of 223. It kept expensive company with San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York.
You can blame Miami's crushingly high median home price of $300,000 and its lackluster family income of $49,200. The index authors calculated that only 14.5 percent of Miamians can afford a median-priced home there.
Mouseville nibbled at our heels, too. Orlando's income was slightly higher than ours, but housing was still boom-priced at $225,000. Orlando finished 58 places behind us at 172.
The Tampa Bay area's new-and-improved affordability came at the cost of plunging home prices the past year. Twenty percent declines have been routine. The historical standard for affordability is when home prices don't exceed 3.2 times family income. That's based in part on how much of one's monthly income would typically be taken up by mortgage payments.
The housing slump has been a burden, but at least something sound has come of our suffering.
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