(Bloomberg) -- Million-dollar homes in the U.S. are shrinking fast.
Nowhere is that more stark than in Nashville, Tennessee, a superstar economy brimming with high-paying jobs, hip bars and new luxury downtown condos. There, $1 million buys a home that's 28% smaller than just five years ago, according to a Zillow ranking of the 100 most-populous cities. Close behind was Oakland, California, a refuge for affluent home-shoppers seeking a cheaper alternative to San Francisco, with a 25% drop.
“If you have a high number of people moving to an area, especially those with higher incomes, it can raise demand and makes these houses more expensive,” Kathryn Coursolle, an economist at Zillow, said by phone. “A million dollars is still a lot of money, especially in some areas.”
At that price, buyers nationwide can expect to get 2,192 square feet, 14% less space than in 2014 but enough for a single-family home with four bedrooms and two and a half baths, a Zillow analysis showed. But $1 million buys only a 1,150-square-foot condo in San Francisco. In New York, you'd get 1,725 square feet -- expansive by Manhattan standards.
Nashville buyers can expect 3,637 square feet, down from 5,029 five years ago. An influx of millennials has helped make the city one of the country's strongest economies, with an unemployment rate of just 2.7%. Nashville is home to Vanderbilt University and a hub for hospitals and tech companies, including Amazon.com Inc., which is planning an operations center that will employ 5,000 people.
Last year, New York-based investment manager AllianceBernstein announced plans to move its corporate headquarters and more than a thousand jobs to Nashville.
To contact the reporter on this story: Prashant Gopal in Boston at pgopal2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Craig Giammona at cgiammona@bloomberg.net, Christine Maurus
©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
Essential Business Intelligence, Continuous LIVE TV, Sharp Market Insights, Practical Personal Finance Advice and Latest Stories — On NDTV Profit.
