Poll: Annual Housing cost/SF

[braumeister]

Polls (Poles for those who prefer) seem to be the order of the day, and I agree they can be fun.

Here's mine. I liked rodi's poll so I expanded it a bit.

Add up all your annual housing expenses (the ones that apply to you). A possible list might be:
Mortgage
Rent
Homeowner’s or Renter’s Insurance (OK to include umbrella)
HOA/condo fees or the equivalent
Electricity
Gas/propane/whatever you use to heat/cook
Internet/TV
Landline or VOIP phone
Typical maintenance/repair cost (averaged)
Property taxes
Maid/gardener/housekeeper costs (or equivalent)
Anything else you consider a cost of your housing.

Please count only the home you spend more time in each year than any other homes you may own.

Now take that total (annual) cost and divide it by the useful square footage of that home.

If you don’t mind, I would love it if you could post here in addition to voting in the poll. What I would like to know is the range (from the poll) and your location (state, province, country) along with type of location (urban, suburban, rural).

I apologize in advance for those who have to convert meters to feet.

For me, $4.32 per square foot in suburban Kentucky.

 

[Meadbh]

You didn't state the time frame. Do you mean per month?

Edited to add: Never mind. Given the numbers, I expect it's annual cost, which, for me, converted to US$, is US$4.80 per sq. foot. Small urban area, British Columbia, Canada.

 

[W2R]

$5.62 in an inner suburb of New Orleans, Louisiana. In order to make a meaningful average of home repairs/upgrades, this is for my prior home (1573 sf), not for my new dream home that I have only lived in for a year.

 

[braumeister]

You didn't state the time frame.

Good catch! Yes, I meant annual cost.

 

[MichaelB]

I added "annual" to the title and first post for clarification.

 

[MichaelB]

South Florida, urban single family house in an HOA. Just an estimate, but I think we spend around $9.50 per sq. ft.

 

[braumeister]

Thanks, MichaelB. Man, we have the best mods around here!

 

[bradaz2488]

Based on the same annual house expenses used in the other poll it comes to $3.85/sf..


2600sf house in PHX

 

[Moemg]

South Florida just over $3.00 a square foot .

 

[REWahoo]

What I would like to know is the range (from the poll) and your location (state, province, country) along with type of location (urban, suburban, rural).

Under $6 in rural TX.

 

[RobbieB]

Under six bucks in the suburban Central Valley of CA.

 

[FI by 2024]

$39.60/sq ft in urban area in DC metro
$14.20/sq ft in suburban area in southern US town
$6.94/sq ft in suburban area in western US city

These are my three places in the last three years, in reverse chronological order. They got progressively smaller while getting progressively more expensive. The first two are rentals, the last (cheapest) had a mortgage.

 

[ABQ2015]

My costs were $7/SF in 2014 but $10/SF in 2015 when I had the exterior of my home painted. No mortgage but I included all utilities except cable/internet which I consider entertainment. This is in an urban area in a western US city. Much of the cost is due to hiring a yard guy and a housekeeper who cleans every other week but I work long hours and travel for business a lot so just don't have the time. Once I retire, I want to relocate and get a smaller home that is more energy efficient and less maintenance.

 

[emerytura]

around 5, semi-rural NJ


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

 

[Cobra9777]

Square footage doesn't tell the whole story

I answered less than $8. It's actually right at $6 if I only count the normal recurring costs. But if I add in my average home remodeling projects over the last few years, it's close to $8.

That's probably high for suburban North Texas with no mortgage. But it's 50 years old, so maintenance costs are high and energy efficiency is an issue. There's a long backlog of home improvement projects that I'm working through. Plus this is Texas, so property taxes are quite high, but that's offset to some degree with no state income tax. We do all cleaning and routine maintenance ourselves. Also, the property is 2.2 acres with a pool, a detached living area, and we back up to a small 10-acre lake shared with about 8 other similar properties.

 

[Koogie]

Hmmm... don't you Yanquis have water or sewage service to pay for down there ? Lol

In USD, about $7.25/sq.ft. Suburban Ontario, Canaduh.

There is also considerable disagreement over how to calculate square footage. Here they say not to include any basement rooms. However, we have a tv room and washroom down there we use so I included it.

 

[Just_Steve]

Not sure if I did it right but I come up with $15 a sqft just with:
Mortgage
Taxes
Electric
Heating oil
Cable, internet, phone.

Seems to be 2 0r 3 times what most are paying so far.

1400 SQFT Suburban NY. 1/2 way between NYC and Albany.

 

[ProspectiveBum]

We're at $11.23 per/sf, with more than half of that attributable to mortgage payments (5 years to go!).

This is a 2869 sqft suburban tract home in Southern California. Our exposure and microclimate keeps our heating and cooling costs much lower than many of our nearby friends and neighbors.

 

[Corporateburnout]

Under $8 Suburbs of Boston. Did not include the finished basement square footage in the calculation

 

[W2R]

Hmmm... don't you Yanquis have water or sewage service to pay for down there ? Lol

Since the instructions said, "Anything else you consider a cost of your housing.", I included water and sewage service. No way would I want to have a house without them!

 

[Gumby]

$11.46 per square foot per year in coastal Connecticut. We don't have a mortgage.


I think adding in mortgage P&I renders your poll less useful than it could be. For example, when we were paying a mortgage, our total cost was $18.65 per sqft or 63% more.

 

[pb4uski]

Our main home cost (2,400 sf lake house in Vermont) is ~$13.50/sf including our mortgage payments. However, we have a mortgage because we want to, not because we have to... without the mortgage payments our cost would be ~$6/sf.

The cost of our winter home (1,444 sf condo in Sarasota) is about $5/sf (owned free and clear).

 

[cathy63]

$4.75 -- we don't need AC or central heat here and the condo is paid off so our cost of housing is pretty low.

 

[FIREd]

Currently: renting in downtown San Francisco: $65 per sqft
Next year: owning a house free and clear in a medium-size southern city: <$5 per sqft.

Vacation condo owned free and clear in large European metro area: $7 per sqft

 

[Meadbh]

Currently: renting in downtown San Francisco: $65 per sqft.

Yikes!