FONTANA WAS RANKED AMONG THE PLACES HARD TO BUY A HOME AT THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR! WHAT HAS CHANGED SINCE THEN?
Ameer Elahee
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he process of buying a home can be more challenging in some markets due to higher home prices, lower inventory, and lower negotiating power. Now with the presence of a pandemic in our midst, the process of buying a home becomes a complete nightmare. In the US, different markets are ranked on their level of difficulty when buying a home. The “Hardest Places to Buy a Home in America” 2020 edition that ranks places on the level of difficulty in buying a home was compiled by SmartAsset after conducting a study. During the studies, SmartAsset analyses three metrics; affordability, inventory, and price cuts. After completing the study, SmartAsset placed Fontana on position six on the list of the most challenging places to buy a house in the US.
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Fontana’s average home prices may be lower than some other cities in the country. However, Fontana appearance in the list of the hardest places to live in the country was majorly attributed to the fact that majority of its residents’ inability to make enough money to afford the purchase of a new home in the area. “Fontana is farther away from downtown Los Angeles than the cities of Anaheim, Santa Ana and Long Beach. With that distance, housing inventory is nearly doubled. Based on data from Zillow and the Census Bureau, there are almost 82 homes available for every 10,000 households in Fontana,” SmartAsset said in its analysis. “Homebuyers pay relatively close to the asking price on homes in Fontana: The median price cut on homes in 2019 was 1.79%, the ninth-lowest rate for this metric in our study.” THE POWER IS NOW MAGAZINE | DECEMBER 2020
