That the real estate market is in turmoil is hardly news. In fact, U.S. new-home sales fell yet again in August, hitting a six-month low, according to the Commerce Department. The median sales price moved in the same direction and is now at 7.7% below year-ago levels. With bad news hitting the real estate market month after month, it’s easy to lose sight of the bigger, global picture. Namely, even though many economists predict that prices may continue to fall, thus expressing a view that U.S. real estate is still overpriced, real estate in America’s top cities is cheap when compared with the rest of the world. Consider this: at an average $1,068 per square foot, Manhattan real estate is prohibitively expensive for most Americans — yet is more than three times cheaper than real estate in Paris, an average $3,287 per square foot.
In this infographic, we put America’s real estate prices in a global perspective. Check it out and then head over to our mortgage refinancing page to see if you could be saving money.
