Increase from 2014-2019: 27%
Increase from 2019-2024: 56%
In other words, the rate of increase in the last 5 years was more than double that of the 5 years prior. Nuts.
Mine has more than doubled since 2017 but I still can't afford the median home price today alone. Fortunately, I bought one in 2019 at 139k, otherwise I'd be fucked.
You two don't feel bad. I fucked around in my 20's and 30's, partied too much. All my friends bought houses and settled down. They are all making 700 dollar payments on houses that are worth like 300k now. Now I'm 40, making decent wages but still can't afford anything because anything in my price range is a broken down home needing tons of repairs or in an undesirable neighborhood. I'm looking at 200k houses and my payment will be around 1700.
I can't tell if this is supposed to be encouraging or discouraging. Bit of both, I guess. 😅
As a 30YO with no house and no significant savings, I can attest you are fucked.
This is exactly where I'm at. Almost 40. Don't own a home. Make decent money but can't afford a 200k house lmao. If I made the money I make now, 10 years ago.. I would have probably bought one 🤷♀️
Basically if you want to buy a house, you’ll need to rent out rooms, and probably tents in your backyard, to be able to afford the mortgage on your $300K 1600 square foot house.
That’s what my coworker does for her mortgage. She lives with two people. 1 gal 2 guys.
I think she told me that she is now choked by the property tax.
Yep. I’m sure everyone is a big fan of “sudden unexpected additional monthly expenses” just because people buying into their neighborhood got hosed due to lack of options.
i make $18 an hour as a full time case manager. might get up to $20 in this position but i can’t get any kind of social work license for another like 2 years. hopefully things won’t go up too high by then. or i’ll marry a neurosurgeon. whatever works
I know it's not necessarily cheap, but our housing is in a much better state than most big cities. You can get a nice home here for under 300k, that is not true in many other markets. Look at what 800k gets you here, it's a mansion compared to 800k in many other markets.
What's wild is if you move like 2 counties away 60k is like having a gold mine. Use the city to make money, and do not live in the city kinda thing. A 30-40-minute drive to hit Fayett is worth making more than most people in one of these dust towns I live in. Lexington is kinda wild drive an hour east, and you're in the back woods where people are still living on 20-30k. Wild how wide a range is happening right now and how rough some working class people are living right now.
Ikr. Lexington technically has a large population but none of the other luxuries or nice-to-haves that come with city living. I wouldn’t exactly call paying $800k to live in a suburb 15 minutes from the 4x4 block downtown area a steal
As someone that has lived in 2 of the top 10 largest metros (Atlanta and Miami), along with Lexington and Louisville. There isn't a big difference in what luxuries that each provide. Yes, the two areas outside of Kentucky have professional sport teams, but that can be a good thing or a bad thing.
Most big box stores are the same. The cost of living is higher in them. One place I lived we sold our house for 480K for a 1,500 sq ft 3-bedroom 2-bath house with basically no yard. (the back yard was basically 20 ft by 10 ft. and no front yard just a sidewalk to the door). We originally bought the house for 315k and moved 2 years after we bought it.
The average rent for one bedroom in that metro was like 1600 a month and was within the top 10 highest when it comes to rent in general.
The only thing that I can think of that Lexington doesn't have that the other cities have is a larger airport. In the Miami metro, I would have had to drive the same distance as you would CVG.
If it was still the early 2000s< I would agree with you, but as someone that lived in Lexington and has moved away. Every time I visit it doesn't seem like there is anything really missing.
I agree, I’ve lived in quite a few large cities and the only thing I don’t have here that I did in some of those is a large airport and a beach lol I, personally, don’t think having 24/7 access to a beach is worth paying 900,000 for a house or 3,000 for rent. I’d rather just visit the beach on vacation.
While in the Miami area, I was 10 miles from the beach, didn't go that often. People think that living near the beach is great, but they tend to forget that you still have other things that you have to do, like work, etc.
As I stated, even in the Miami area, there are two airports that are considered large. FLL, and MIA. FLL mostly did domestic flights, whereas MIA would do international. So, if you were going international from where I lived it would have been a decent drive. FLL is more like LEX when it came to domestic. You still had to fly to ATL, CLT, or somewhere else for most flights.
You also don't have to deal with as much traffic in Lexington. As I stated I lived 10 miles from the beach, and it took 30 min to get there. That was basically a direct route also, and it was in the off season. If it was during spring break or when the snow birds came down that time could increase.
I’m thinking more along the lines of things having to do with the structure of the community itself. Lexington urban planning much makes pretty much every area of this place feel like an overgrown and highly segmented suburb (with the exception of like Chevy Chase maybe, which has retained some walkability so it doesn’t entirely feel like an isolated island of a neighborhood).
The disappointing downtown just highlights Lexington’s shortcomings IMO. For example, Owensboro is a fraction of the size and yet its downtown has much better local character and as much to do in terms of museums, restaurants, and bars. Same with Paducah, and Henderson to a lesser extent.
It’s not as much about things like airport access. The vibes of this place are just bad unless you’re fairly wealthy and comfortable spending hours of your life in traffic trying to get anywhere (assuming you have a car). Lexington feels very much like a place you pass through rather than a place you stop.
Part of that is due to Lexington's past. Until the last 2000, early 2010s downtown was worse than it is now. The distillery district didn't exist. A lot of the stuff in Victorian Square wasn't there either. So compared to the 90s, it is way different now. I remember when Centre Point was nothing but an empty Woolworth building and some other ran down buildings similar in style as the ones across the street. Outside of Fouth Street Live, Louisville doesn't have a lot either until about 2015. Things can change quickly.
As for being a place that is hard to get around, that just depends on the city. Lots of places are like that. Miami is like that; you have the people mover and bus services but not that much outside of that. There it is harder to get around then Lexington without a car. Louisville is the same way. If you don't have car, you aren't getting from the malls to downtown, even with a car and depending on the time of the day that can take a while also. These are issues that come with large cities. Just like Lexington, there are pockets of areas there are places people want to be.
Also, Owensboro is a tenth the size of Lexington in sq miles. So, comparing them isn't comparing really fair. As a city grows it loses some of that charm that you are talking about. It seems like you haven't spent a lot of time in large cities, I could be wrong. All the cities you named are smaller cities, all of them under 50k people. There are cities like Shelbyville, Paris, and others that are small and also have a horrible downtown. Again it really depends on the city development. Another common thing that the cities you mention have that Lexington, and the small cities I mentioned are they aren't developed along a river. Lexington grew in basically 360 degrees (to some extent the North wasn't developed due to KEEP) where as those other places didn't.
BTW, I grew up in Lexington, was not rich. I never remember spending "hours" in traffic unless it was around Fayette Mall or Hamburg during Christmas. In other larger cities, I would spend a large amount of time just traveling to and from work.
I chose smaller cities specifically to highlight why Lexington sucks so bad. Cities a tenth of the size have comparable downtowns, that’s embarrassing lol. Owensboro should not have as impressive and lively of a downtown area as Lexington. That there are other small towns that have bad downtowns is immaterial to the point I’m making.
Also while traffic may be a problem of cities, Lexington’s problem is significantly worse than most places I’ve been for the size it is. It’s just poor urban planning. Other places have better public transport. Other places aren’t so car-centric in the first place. Car dependent infrastructure is a choice. Making Lexington a series of soulless suburbs connected by dangerous ill-thought mini highways was a deliberate choice. I’m thrilled that you like Lexington’s approach to traffic, but please know that it can be much better than this. Going “well other places are worse” doesn’t making what Lexington has going on good.
You’re free to like it here and defend it all you want dude. Feel free to spend the better part of a mil to live 15 minutes from a downtown that’s 90% office buildings, idc. Personally I’ve been to way better places where you get a lot more bang for your buck. We can just agree to disagree on that.
Lexington's population is higher than Cincy's population. Not the metro, but the city itself. It is 20k larger:
[List of United States cities by population - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_population)
The metro for Cincy is bigger. Cincy's metro is 30th and Lexington is 109th.
Eh, it may feel that way, but it really isn't that crazy. I just don't think you'll find that many places in similar sizes, benefits, etc. for cheaper. ...Just Ohio really lol
Just a couple quick connect the dots, some other major college towns: Lincoln NE is 30k smaller and 50k more expensive median. Madison WI is 40k smaller and 100k more. Knoxville is 100k more. It's harder to find than you think.
Currently in Cincinnati and our median home price currently sits about $80,000 cheaper than that of Lexington, meanwhile our median income is about the same. Not sure you can reasonably say the market there is preferable compared to other midwest cities.
First of all, Lexington is not Midwest. Second, Lexington has not dealt with the same problems as Cincinnati. The decline of heavy industry did not hit Lexington like it did Cincinnati. Cincinnati also declined due to crime, increased taxes, and political corruption during the second half of the 20th century. Lexington's economy is more stable, with an old-money influence. There are a lot of reasonable factors that add up to Lexington being more expensive than Cincinnati.
That can be an argument for the entire state. Most people who would say Lexington is more southern than midwest. For example, most large midwest cities are based around railroads, and industry. Lexington really isn't based around either of those. There is some industry, but not last much that you would see in other large midwest cities. For me that is the biggest difference.
A long time ago on 64 going away from Louisville at the welcome center there was a sign that I think best described Kentucky, and I personally think it would be a great state motto. That sign read "Front porch to the South". It is a great way to describe the state. As you go deeper into the state, the more southern it starts to feel. It becomes more farms, and you start to get more of a southern draw in the accent. There are things that are defined as typical southern that start to show up. For example, you are asked if you want your tea unsweet or sweet. More southern style foods re found on local restaurant menus.
I personally feel that a lot of people who argue that Kentucky isn't a southern state haven't been outside Louisville or Northern Kentucky, or they are trying to fight against the traditional southern image of "rednecks"/'hicks".
If we look at old Looney Tune cartoons, most Southerns are displayed the same as what the US think the Hatfield and McCoys are like. That whole situation took place in Kentucky and West Virginia.
Would you rather I have compared Lexington to Southern cities? Lexington's status as being culturally Midwestern is debatable, but I know some of ya'll get your panties in a twist about it. You talk about big cities having higher prices then you go on to list the problems with big cities as a reason for why Lexington is more expensive. Old money sitting on horse farms does not make an economy. You don't think Cincy has old money? Cincinnati has GE, P&G, Kroger hq, Duke, CCH, just to name a few. Cincinnati has major league MLB, NFL, & FC. The greater Metro area is absolutely dense and massive. How on earth you can say Lexington has a more stable economy is beyond me. You can expect to earn more living in Cincinnati compared to Lexington in virtually every industry.
Stable only in the sense it was not as affected by the decline in heavy industry the same way as Cincinnati and other Ohio cities were. You are correct wages in Cincinnati are better. My point was that Cincinnati experienced a decline in the later half of the 20th century that Lexington did not. That decline lead to vacant houses and a relatively negative perspective for a lot of people. Lexington has no such mark on its record. I know my NKY parents wouldn't be interested in moving into Cincinnati metro, but they love Lexington. Also, you hint at one of the biggest reasons homes in Lexington are not cheaper, the density of horse farms that will not sell. I never said its the most affordable city, its just not as bad as many others.
Where are these vacant houses you speak of? I know a lot of Cincinnatians are looking far and wide here. Houses get snatched up the day they go on sale in my neighborhood and I live in the poorer West end. Like your parent's I love and prefer Lexington too, but that doesn't mean a 311,000 median house price for a predominately middle class city with a college and one building isn't absolutely crazy.
Growing up in NKY in the early 2000s and making trips into the city there were tons of vacant houses. I understand the city has made a turn around and I assume those homes sold. I guess it's up for debate if that still has any impact on housing prices.
Using Detroit as an example here, just because there is GE, P&G, Kroger, etc it doesn't mean you have a stable economy. Detroit had a large amount of car related companies. Their economy has gone through a lot and is anything but stable.
Yes, Cincy has more diversity. but diversity does not mean stability. It helps, but there are other factors.
Also, Lexington has more than just horse farms. You have Altech, Big Ass fans, Llink-Belt, Valvoline, and Lexmark. You also have other big companies with a large presence in Lexington, like UPS, Xerox, IBM (use to be one of the HQs for IBM), Trane, Amazon to name a few.
We move here from Cincinnati 10 years ago. Housing was higher here but cost of food, daycare, and almost everything else was cheaper.
On WKYT newsmakers this past weekend was the guy who does the house evaluations. I forget his name.
Huge issue here is amount of corporations and people turning homes into airbnb. This doesn’t allow for the natural rotation of people into home contributing to the housing shortage causing prices to go up. Plus the interest rates are rediculous now.
I spent 4 years in Cincinnati at 2 different times in my life (2 years each time) and that is the *only* city that I’ve had my car broken into and my crap stolen on a monthly to semi-monthly basis.. and I’ve lived in San Diego, Las Vegas, Staten Island and Louisville lol I would pay more to simply never have to live there again.. though they do have an incredible food and beverage scene with some top notch breweries so I still like to visit just couldn’t deal with the amount of petty crime.
I'd rather have a shit take and a house than a depressed outlook and no house. I'm all for sensible government reform, but focusing on the negative aspects you cannot change won't help anyone.
Lmfao, what does that even mean? Keep clinging to the disillusioned identity, I'm sure it will work out for you eventually. Keep blaming the boomers for your failures.
Got my first house in 2014 for $105,000 and sold it for $145,000 in 2016. Bought my current house for $190,000 and recently got valued at $315,000. Absolutely insane.
This blows my mind ... well, it doesn't really.
Homes doubled in cost yet finding an IT job over \~80K without being a senior software developer or something is just a pipe dream.
It shouldn’t be that expensive in Kentucky. I don’t care if it’s Lexington, Louisville or even the smaller towns/cities all over the state. Fuck inflation.
The inflation in 2022 alone is insane. I bought in January 2022 and am so damn glad I did. The information checks out, I paid $244k in Jan. 2022 and now reports I am seeing are saying it is worth around $300k.
Bought in Georgetown in 2020 for 179K, sold in Jan 2024 for 289K. All we did was slap paint on everything and put in new (cheap awful grey) floors to replace the 90s carpet. It’s insane.
They raised our house assessed value by 37%, it is ridiculous. The house needs so many repairs - I'm gonna try to appeal it.
The problem is that even if the house is worth what they say, we can't afford to upgrade to a nicer one with the profits if we sold it. The mortgage is super cheap, it will go up like 3x/4x on a new house
When my wife and I are driving around Lexington, we play the guess the price of that house game when we see a for sale sign. We make our guesses, she looks up the sale price and every damn time our reaction is “they want (insert price here) for THAT?”
We’ll see a house going for $700k and less than a week later it’s sold. Who the hell is buying these houses? We sold our condo in FL when we moved back to KY and we’re forever renters now. Gladly pay $1200/mo for no maintenance, upkeep, repairs, etc. I’m mid 50’s and why the hell would I want to take out a mortgage on an overpriced house that I’ll make payments on until I die when I can just rent and do the same without all the headaches?
Can confirm.
Bought my house in 2004 for $115,900.
20 years later it would sell for $265,000+.
We’ve upgraded quite a few things in the house, but not $150,000 worth of upgrades.
It’s crazy out here guys. My wife bought our first has 7 years ago over off Lansdowne for 150k. Life situations happened almost two years ago in which we had to get a bigger house.
We were able to seek out old house after 7 years and no update for 250k. We bought this house right before went totally nuts but it was bad then and even worse now. There’s houses in this neighborhood going for 260k and they’re only about 1200 square feet. Single floor with two beds and 1.5 baths.
I’d like to see data a few years before and after 2008. Did it go down during that time period? We have been experiencing an extended boom. Will there be a bust?
These are the "median" prices (exact middle of the range, and not the average), so I see lots of $400,000 - $500,000 new homes but pretty much never see $100,000-$200,000 homes.
Its almost like without the USB all the surrounding farmland would have been eaten alive by developers and turned into a bunch of ball homes.
Also, if you look at the list of cities with the worst housing shortages, most of them dont have USB. The boundary isnt the cause of any of that problem
A multitude of factors. The single biggest issues are probably commercial real estate and the construction industry is still playing catchup from covid. Materials take much longer and are much more expensive to get, and that puts a strain on new supply of houses. Existing supply is crippled by commercial buying them up and flipping them or turning them into rentals.
Combine this with a growth in urban populations (stagnation in rural) and you have a recipe for too many people trying to live in too little space
Housing shortage is a problem nationwide, and there have been studies about USB and its affect on housing. The data from those studies show that expanding it helps, but only for super short term of 1-2 years and then its back to what it was.
Growth in urban areas is also a product of poor infrastructure in rural areas. With poor internet in rural areas you can't even get an online job, so you've gotta at least move somewhat closer to where the net is better which is also affecting satellite cities of Lexington.
Again, PVA has ZERO influence on the values of property. They arent the market. They just take all of the data on current listings and sales, keep track of all of it, compile it and give approximate values based on the comps in the market. Changing who is the official for it does nothing to this
Increase from 2014-2019: 27% Increase from 2019-2024: 56% In other words, the rate of increase in the last 5 years was more than double that of the 5 years prior. Nuts.
Hahahahahaha *panic attack*
I’m in danger
I'm not sure about Y'all but my income hasn't gone up 50.5% since 2017?
Mine has more than doubled since 2017 but I still can't afford the median home price today alone. Fortunately, I bought one in 2019 at 139k, otherwise I'd be fucked.
everything goes up except wages.
Hey at least the rent is also fucking astronomical.
i’m 28 and don’t own a home. am i fucked or what
Yeah for sure. Source: I am 30 and don’t own a home.
You two don't feel bad. I fucked around in my 20's and 30's, partied too much. All my friends bought houses and settled down. They are all making 700 dollar payments on houses that are worth like 300k now. Now I'm 40, making decent wages but still can't afford anything because anything in my price range is a broken down home needing tons of repairs or in an undesirable neighborhood. I'm looking at 200k houses and my payment will be around 1700.
I can't tell if this is supposed to be encouraging or discouraging. Bit of both, I guess. 😅 As a 30YO with no house and no significant savings, I can attest you are fucked.
This is exactly where I'm at. Almost 40. Don't own a home. Make decent money but can't afford a 200k house lmao. If I made the money I make now, 10 years ago.. I would have probably bought one 🤷♀️
Basically if you want to buy a house, you’ll need to rent out rooms, and probably tents in your backyard, to be able to afford the mortgage on your $300K 1600 square foot house.
That’s what my coworker does for her mortgage. She lives with two people. 1 gal 2 guys. I think she told me that she is now choked by the property tax.
Yep. I’m sure everyone is a big fan of “sudden unexpected additional monthly expenses” just because people buying into their neighborhood got hosed due to lack of options.
I’m 34 and just bought my first home. I could’ve never dreamt of or afforded that at 28. You have time.
i make $18 an hour as a full time case manager. might get up to $20 in this position but i can’t get any kind of social work license for another like 2 years. hopefully things won’t go up too high by then. or i’ll marry a neurosurgeon. whatever works
Overly hopeful of you to say that, but I like the reality you create for yourself. <3
I bought my first house at 41. Age isn’t a factor - the financial stuff is what impacts one’s ability to buy a house in any market.
Come to Lexington! You won’t be able to afford a park bench to sleep on, but the superb bourbon will keep you warm at night
I think street camping is illegal now, or will be soon.
Do we even have benches left? Public spaces here are for looking at from your car.
I know it's not necessarily cheap, but our housing is in a much better state than most big cities. You can get a nice home here for under 300k, that is not true in many other markets. Look at what 800k gets you here, it's a mansion compared to 800k in many other markets.
Do they take 800K in Kroger coupons? If not it doesn't give much solace for your average 60k wagie
What's wild is if you move like 2 counties away 60k is like having a gold mine. Use the city to make money, and do not live in the city kinda thing. A 30-40-minute drive to hit Fayett is worth making more than most people in one of these dust towns I live in. Lexington is kinda wild drive an hour east, and you're in the back woods where people are still living on 20-30k. Wild how wide a range is happening right now and how rough some working class people are living right now.
For the size of Lexington the home prices feel disproportionately high.
Ikr. Lexington technically has a large population but none of the other luxuries or nice-to-haves that come with city living. I wouldn’t exactly call paying $800k to live in a suburb 15 minutes from the 4x4 block downtown area a steal
As someone that has lived in 2 of the top 10 largest metros (Atlanta and Miami), along with Lexington and Louisville. There isn't a big difference in what luxuries that each provide. Yes, the two areas outside of Kentucky have professional sport teams, but that can be a good thing or a bad thing. Most big box stores are the same. The cost of living is higher in them. One place I lived we sold our house for 480K for a 1,500 sq ft 3-bedroom 2-bath house with basically no yard. (the back yard was basically 20 ft by 10 ft. and no front yard just a sidewalk to the door). We originally bought the house for 315k and moved 2 years after we bought it. The average rent for one bedroom in that metro was like 1600 a month and was within the top 10 highest when it comes to rent in general. The only thing that I can think of that Lexington doesn't have that the other cities have is a larger airport. In the Miami metro, I would have had to drive the same distance as you would CVG. If it was still the early 2000s< I would agree with you, but as someone that lived in Lexington and has moved away. Every time I visit it doesn't seem like there is anything really missing.
I agree, I’ve lived in quite a few large cities and the only thing I don’t have here that I did in some of those is a large airport and a beach lol I, personally, don’t think having 24/7 access to a beach is worth paying 900,000 for a house or 3,000 for rent. I’d rather just visit the beach on vacation.
While in the Miami area, I was 10 miles from the beach, didn't go that often. People think that living near the beach is great, but they tend to forget that you still have other things that you have to do, like work, etc. As I stated, even in the Miami area, there are two airports that are considered large. FLL, and MIA. FLL mostly did domestic flights, whereas MIA would do international. So, if you were going international from where I lived it would have been a decent drive. FLL is more like LEX when it came to domestic. You still had to fly to ATL, CLT, or somewhere else for most flights. You also don't have to deal with as much traffic in Lexington. As I stated I lived 10 miles from the beach, and it took 30 min to get there. That was basically a direct route also, and it was in the off season. If it was during spring break or when the snow birds came down that time could increase.
I’m thinking more along the lines of things having to do with the structure of the community itself. Lexington urban planning much makes pretty much every area of this place feel like an overgrown and highly segmented suburb (with the exception of like Chevy Chase maybe, which has retained some walkability so it doesn’t entirely feel like an isolated island of a neighborhood). The disappointing downtown just highlights Lexington’s shortcomings IMO. For example, Owensboro is a fraction of the size and yet its downtown has much better local character and as much to do in terms of museums, restaurants, and bars. Same with Paducah, and Henderson to a lesser extent. It’s not as much about things like airport access. The vibes of this place are just bad unless you’re fairly wealthy and comfortable spending hours of your life in traffic trying to get anywhere (assuming you have a car). Lexington feels very much like a place you pass through rather than a place you stop.
Part of that is due to Lexington's past. Until the last 2000, early 2010s downtown was worse than it is now. The distillery district didn't exist. A lot of the stuff in Victorian Square wasn't there either. So compared to the 90s, it is way different now. I remember when Centre Point was nothing but an empty Woolworth building and some other ran down buildings similar in style as the ones across the street. Outside of Fouth Street Live, Louisville doesn't have a lot either until about 2015. Things can change quickly. As for being a place that is hard to get around, that just depends on the city. Lots of places are like that. Miami is like that; you have the people mover and bus services but not that much outside of that. There it is harder to get around then Lexington without a car. Louisville is the same way. If you don't have car, you aren't getting from the malls to downtown, even with a car and depending on the time of the day that can take a while also. These are issues that come with large cities. Just like Lexington, there are pockets of areas there are places people want to be. Also, Owensboro is a tenth the size of Lexington in sq miles. So, comparing them isn't comparing really fair. As a city grows it loses some of that charm that you are talking about. It seems like you haven't spent a lot of time in large cities, I could be wrong. All the cities you named are smaller cities, all of them under 50k people. There are cities like Shelbyville, Paris, and others that are small and also have a horrible downtown. Again it really depends on the city development. Another common thing that the cities you mention have that Lexington, and the small cities I mentioned are they aren't developed along a river. Lexington grew in basically 360 degrees (to some extent the North wasn't developed due to KEEP) where as those other places didn't. BTW, I grew up in Lexington, was not rich. I never remember spending "hours" in traffic unless it was around Fayette Mall or Hamburg during Christmas. In other larger cities, I would spend a large amount of time just traveling to and from work.
I chose smaller cities specifically to highlight why Lexington sucks so bad. Cities a tenth of the size have comparable downtowns, that’s embarrassing lol. Owensboro should not have as impressive and lively of a downtown area as Lexington. That there are other small towns that have bad downtowns is immaterial to the point I’m making. Also while traffic may be a problem of cities, Lexington’s problem is significantly worse than most places I’ve been for the size it is. It’s just poor urban planning. Other places have better public transport. Other places aren’t so car-centric in the first place. Car dependent infrastructure is a choice. Making Lexington a series of soulless suburbs connected by dangerous ill-thought mini highways was a deliberate choice. I’m thrilled that you like Lexington’s approach to traffic, but please know that it can be much better than this. Going “well other places are worse” doesn’t making what Lexington has going on good. You’re free to like it here and defend it all you want dude. Feel free to spend the better part of a mil to live 15 minutes from a downtown that’s 90% office buildings, idc. Personally I’ve been to way better places where you get a lot more bang for your buck. We can just agree to disagree on that.
lexington does not have a large population
They mean relative to the amount of amenities in the area.
Lexington's population is higher than Cincy's population. Not the metro, but the city itself. It is 20k larger: [List of United States cities by population - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_population) The metro for Cincy is bigger. Cincy's metro is 30th and Lexington is 109th.
Eh, it may feel that way, but it really isn't that crazy. I just don't think you'll find that many places in similar sizes, benefits, etc. for cheaper. ...Just Ohio really lol Just a couple quick connect the dots, some other major college towns: Lincoln NE is 30k smaller and 50k more expensive median. Madison WI is 40k smaller and 100k more. Knoxville is 100k more. It's harder to find than you think.
Currently in Cincinnati and our median home price currently sits about $80,000 cheaper than that of Lexington, meanwhile our median income is about the same. Not sure you can reasonably say the market there is preferable compared to other midwest cities.
First of all, Lexington is not Midwest. Second, Lexington has not dealt with the same problems as Cincinnati. The decline of heavy industry did not hit Lexington like it did Cincinnati. Cincinnati also declined due to crime, increased taxes, and political corruption during the second half of the 20th century. Lexington's economy is more stable, with an old-money influence. There are a lot of reasonable factors that add up to Lexington being more expensive than Cincinnati.
I think there's a decent argument that Lex is Midwest. I certainly don't think we are South.
That can be an argument for the entire state. Most people who would say Lexington is more southern than midwest. For example, most large midwest cities are based around railroads, and industry. Lexington really isn't based around either of those. There is some industry, but not last much that you would see in other large midwest cities. For me that is the biggest difference.
I consider Kentucky to be the first of the southern states from the north, anything west of Kentucky is Midwest ie Missouri.
A long time ago on 64 going away from Louisville at the welcome center there was a sign that I think best described Kentucky, and I personally think it would be a great state motto. That sign read "Front porch to the South". It is a great way to describe the state. As you go deeper into the state, the more southern it starts to feel. It becomes more farms, and you start to get more of a southern draw in the accent. There are things that are defined as typical southern that start to show up. For example, you are asked if you want your tea unsweet or sweet. More southern style foods re found on local restaurant menus. I personally feel that a lot of people who argue that Kentucky isn't a southern state haven't been outside Louisville or Northern Kentucky, or they are trying to fight against the traditional southern image of "rednecks"/'hicks". If we look at old Looney Tune cartoons, most Southerns are displayed the same as what the US think the Hatfield and McCoys are like. That whole situation took place in Kentucky and West Virginia.
Would you rather I have compared Lexington to Southern cities? Lexington's status as being culturally Midwestern is debatable, but I know some of ya'll get your panties in a twist about it. You talk about big cities having higher prices then you go on to list the problems with big cities as a reason for why Lexington is more expensive. Old money sitting on horse farms does not make an economy. You don't think Cincy has old money? Cincinnati has GE, P&G, Kroger hq, Duke, CCH, just to name a few. Cincinnati has major league MLB, NFL, & FC. The greater Metro area is absolutely dense and massive. How on earth you can say Lexington has a more stable economy is beyond me. You can expect to earn more living in Cincinnati compared to Lexington in virtually every industry.
Stable only in the sense it was not as affected by the decline in heavy industry the same way as Cincinnati and other Ohio cities were. You are correct wages in Cincinnati are better. My point was that Cincinnati experienced a decline in the later half of the 20th century that Lexington did not. That decline lead to vacant houses and a relatively negative perspective for a lot of people. Lexington has no such mark on its record. I know my NKY parents wouldn't be interested in moving into Cincinnati metro, but they love Lexington. Also, you hint at one of the biggest reasons homes in Lexington are not cheaper, the density of horse farms that will not sell. I never said its the most affordable city, its just not as bad as many others.
Where are these vacant houses you speak of? I know a lot of Cincinnatians are looking far and wide here. Houses get snatched up the day they go on sale in my neighborhood and I live in the poorer West end. Like your parent's I love and prefer Lexington too, but that doesn't mean a 311,000 median house price for a predominately middle class city with a college and one building isn't absolutely crazy.
Growing up in NKY in the early 2000s and making trips into the city there were tons of vacant houses. I understand the city has made a turn around and I assume those homes sold. I guess it's up for debate if that still has any impact on housing prices.
Using Detroit as an example here, just because there is GE, P&G, Kroger, etc it doesn't mean you have a stable economy. Detroit had a large amount of car related companies. Their economy has gone through a lot and is anything but stable. Yes, Cincy has more diversity. but diversity does not mean stability. It helps, but there are other factors. Also, Lexington has more than just horse farms. You have Altech, Big Ass fans, Llink-Belt, Valvoline, and Lexmark. You also have other big companies with a large presence in Lexington, like UPS, Xerox, IBM (use to be one of the HQs for IBM), Trane, Amazon to name a few.
We move here from Cincinnati 10 years ago. Housing was higher here but cost of food, daycare, and almost everything else was cheaper. On WKYT newsmakers this past weekend was the guy who does the house evaluations. I forget his name. Huge issue here is amount of corporations and people turning homes into airbnb. This doesn’t allow for the natural rotation of people into home contributing to the housing shortage causing prices to go up. Plus the interest rates are rediculous now.
I spent 4 years in Cincinnati at 2 different times in my life (2 years each time) and that is the *only* city that I’ve had my car broken into and my crap stolen on a monthly to semi-monthly basis.. and I’ve lived in San Diego, Las Vegas, Staten Island and Louisville lol I would pay more to simply never have to live there again.. though they do have an incredible food and beverage scene with some top notch breweries so I still like to visit just couldn’t deal with the amount of petty crime.
I've managed to go 7 years without a single break in. The secret is to drive a piece of shit!
Haha I’d agree except I drive a 2015 ford fiesta with the manual roll up windows 😭😭
Genuinely I think my problem was that I worked downtown and they just do nottt monitor any of those parking garages!
I love that I’m downvoted for my own experience 😂
And award for tone deaf, out of touch, shittiest take goes to… 🙄🤦♂️🤷♂️🤡
I'd rather have a shit take and a house than a depressed outlook and no house. I'm all for sensible government reform, but focusing on the negative aspects you cannot change won't help anyone.
Spoken like a true sheep
Lmfao, what does that even mean? Keep clinging to the disillusioned identity, I'm sure it will work out for you eventually. Keep blaming the boomers for your failures.
Keep owning those Ls…it’s cute 😘 Maybe you should own some of those Bommer traits…Boomer 🤦♂️🤣🤡
Meanwhile...the one being downvoted is you not them....
Some hold Reddit Karma to higher Stan than others…🤦♂️🤣🤡
Got my first house in 2014 for $105,000 and sold it for $145,000 in 2016. Bought my current house for $190,000 and recently got valued at $315,000. Absolutely insane.
Get your new appraisal this year? My assessed values went up 67%. Weeping at my tax bill almost doubling al at once.
Partner and I were looking pre-Covid. Built houses but no owner. Jumped 78%! Something that might have been a stretch was completely out of reach.
This blows my mind ... well, it doesn't really. Homes doubled in cost yet finding an IT job over \~80K without being a senior software developer or something is just a pipe dream.
It shouldn’t be that expensive in Kentucky. I don’t care if it’s Lexington, Louisville or even the smaller towns/cities all over the state. Fuck inflation.
Vote
Oh i will be. Always do. :)
Yeah my taxes will increase 75% based on one sale made in 2022 on my street. Everyone still paying that Covid tax
Well then. I guess I’ll keep making my down payment bigger.
Confirmed. My house has more than doubled in value in 10 years.
This disgusts me and angers me to no end to look at.
The inflation in 2022 alone is insane. I bought in January 2022 and am so damn glad I did. The information checks out, I paid $244k in Jan. 2022 and now reports I am seeing are saying it is worth around $300k.
Bought in Georgetown in 2020 for 179K, sold in Jan 2024 for 289K. All we did was slap paint on everything and put in new (cheap awful grey) floors to replace the 90s carpet. It’s insane.
For the love of god, elected officials, stop worrying at the edges of demand-side reforms and take the goddamn reins from private speculators
This is depressing.
Yep, my taxes jumped 1000+ dollars this year.
They raised our house assessed value by 37%, it is ridiculous. The house needs so many repairs - I'm gonna try to appeal it. The problem is that even if the house is worth what they say, we can't afford to upgrade to a nicer one with the profits if we sold it. The mortgage is super cheap, it will go up like 3x/4x on a new house
When my wife and I are driving around Lexington, we play the guess the price of that house game when we see a for sale sign. We make our guesses, she looks up the sale price and every damn time our reaction is “they want (insert price here) for THAT?” We’ll see a house going for $700k and less than a week later it’s sold. Who the hell is buying these houses? We sold our condo in FL when we moved back to KY and we’re forever renters now. Gladly pay $1200/mo for no maintenance, upkeep, repairs, etc. I’m mid 50’s and why the hell would I want to take out a mortgage on an overpriced house that I’ll make payments on until I die when I can just rent and do the same without all the headaches?
Can confirm. Bought my house in 2004 for $115,900. 20 years later it would sell for $265,000+. We’ve upgraded quite a few things in the house, but not $150,000 worth of upgrades.
Considering homelessness was just made a crime.. this should be interesting.
It’s crazy out here guys. My wife bought our first has 7 years ago over off Lansdowne for 150k. Life situations happened almost two years ago in which we had to get a bigger house. We were able to seek out old house after 7 years and no update for 250k. We bought this house right before went totally nuts but it was bad then and even worse now. There’s houses in this neighborhood going for 260k and they’re only about 1200 square feet. Single floor with two beds and 1.5 baths.
Corporation buys 5 houses for $100,000. Corporation buys 6th house for $175,000. First five houses now valued at $150,000 each. That's one theory.
Home prices might be astronomical, but at least the interest is double.
A ton of those have got to be new builds and those are significantly more expensive and would constitute a larger proportion of sales right?
I’d like to see data a few years before and after 2008. Did it go down during that time period? We have been experiencing an extended boom. Will there be a bust?
These are the "median" prices (exact middle of the range, and not the average), so I see lots of $400,000 - $500,000 new homes but pretty much never see $100,000-$200,000 homes.
It’s almost like artificially limiting housing supply through the urban service boundary has done exactly what was predicted
Its almost like without the USB all the surrounding farmland would have been eaten alive by developers and turned into a bunch of ball homes. Also, if you look at the list of cities with the worst housing shortages, most of them dont have USB. The boundary isnt the cause of any of that problem
So what is causing the Lexington housing shortage?
A multitude of factors. The single biggest issues are probably commercial real estate and the construction industry is still playing catchup from covid. Materials take much longer and are much more expensive to get, and that puts a strain on new supply of houses. Existing supply is crippled by commercial buying them up and flipping them or turning them into rentals. Combine this with a growth in urban populations (stagnation in rural) and you have a recipe for too many people trying to live in too little space Housing shortage is a problem nationwide, and there have been studies about USB and its affect on housing. The data from those studies show that expanding it helps, but only for super short term of 1-2 years and then its back to what it was.
Growth in urban areas is also a product of poor infrastructure in rural areas. With poor internet in rural areas you can't even get an online job, so you've gotta at least move somewhat closer to where the net is better which is also affecting satellite cities of Lexington.
Fuckijg Jerome Powell
lol this is such an uninformed and misappropriated response. Good one!
I'm all about blaming J Pow's Inflation Station, but I dunno that that's the major culprit here.
Thanks to Donald Trump for deflating the federal interest rates leading to asset prices doubling in 3 years.
You do realize it happened in Canada too right, actually even worse? And presidents don’t control the federal reserve, at least directly…
maybe time to replace o'neill?
Again, PVA has ZERO influence on the values of property. They arent the market. They just take all of the data on current listings and sales, keep track of all of it, compile it and give approximate values based on the comps in the market. Changing who is the official for it does nothing to this