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INCREASING HOUSING COSTS IN IOWA
Iowa is one of the cheapest states to live in along with Mississippi, West Virginia and Oklahoma, with a median household price of around $250,000 compared to Hawaii’s average median household price of around $779,000 and California’s average median household price of $782,000. The state is also known as one of the most affordable states to live in by most of the state's 3.26 million people, although the state has seen its newer housing prices going up in the past decade due to the economy and inflation. The state has lower housing prices because of the amount of abundant land, steady and predictable market growth and a low cost of construction for homes to be built. Since Iowa is mostly farmland, it has many areas full of space for new housing developments to be built, meaning that they are both easy and inexpensive for new homeowners to live in.
Many cities that get new homes built are in fast growing suburban cities like North Liberty, Tiffin and Coralville, which are next to Iowa City, along with many cities in the Des Moines area, most notably Waukee, Ankeny and Bondurant. Many smaller cities have a lot of land adjacent to them, resulting in new homes to be put in for new families to move into. For example, Oxford is located near the Johnson-Iowa County border and the Amana Colonies, has around 735 people living there, and is smaller, rural, and has enough land for new houses to be built, whereas University Heights, which is surrounded by Iowa City on all sides, can only build new buildings if the city plans on tearing down the older ones.
Many states have prices that rapidly increase, while Iowa is one of the very few states where housing prices slowly increase at a reasonable and gradual pace, mostly due to the state laws helping with new building permits and the market avoiding high demands and severe increases in the rate of inflation.
So why do we care so much about the housing prices in Iowa? Well, although Iowa is a cheaper state to move to and live in, many complain about how expensive the housing prices can be, mostly due to inflation and the economy with all of the tariffs and the war in Iran. Ms. Grommon, a student teacher in Ms. Moore’s classroom, shared her experience of how the housing prices have changed around the Cedar Rapids/Linn County area; “My parents bought a 4-bedroom house, built specifically for them, for around $150,000. That was ten years ago, and their mortgage payment, to this day, is around $1,000 a month. Nowadays, the average studio apartment is advertised for $800-$1000 per month. The difference I’ve noticed in the quality of housing people’s hard-earned income can buy is really disheartening to see.”
Clearly, housing prices have become a point of concern as they’ve increased in recent years. The cost of housing is becoming daunting and unrealistic for citizens all over the country, even in less-populated and less-costly states like Iowa.
