A new Coldwell Banker national home price comparison says Muncie is the nation's fifth most affordable home market.

The average local home is priced at $150,000, ranking us between Canton, Ohio, and Topeka, Kansas -- and, oddly, making us comparable to Bogota, Colombia, an international market the real estate company also surveyed.

Affordable prices might be another way of defining a depressed housing market, but the director of the Bureau of Business Research at Ball State University says affordable housing stock is invaluable in attracting new economic development. "If job growth is a desired outcome, more affordable housing is a stimulus for that," said Michael Hicks. "However we got here, it's still a stimulus."

The national survey was released locally by Coldwell Banker Lunsford. The survey compared prices for 2,200-square-foot, single-family dwellings with four bedrooms, two and a half baths, a family room and a two-car garage.

The most affordable housing was in Killeen, Texas, where the 2007 average price was $136,725, Coldwell Banker said. The most expensive housing was in Beverly Hills, Calif., where the average sale price was $2.2 million. Mike Lunsford of Coldwell Banker said local home sales were down in 2007 compared to 2006. He noted that 2006 was the best year ever for local home sales and 2007 could be third-best.

"Recent economic development activities will serve to increase the demand for homes in East Central Indiana," Lunsford said. Although manufacturing jobs have been lost, a call center for student loan provider Sallie Mae and an announced center for IBM in Daleville have added jobs. Manufacturing jobs have been added at a Magna Powertrain plant on the city's southwestside.

Hicks said the relationship between jobs and housing works both ways, as companies that might develop facilities locally look for affording housing stock, safe communities and quality schools for their employees. He noted that the comparatively affordable housing prices might have been caused by lower occupancy rates or might indicate depressed prices.

"It's not how we got here that matters," Hicks said. "It's where it's likely to take us. Having an affordable housing stock in this day and time is very attractive to workers. Firms that locate in cities that have very expensive housing have to pay a premium to get employees. Firms located in cities with affordable housing don't suffer that wage premium."

Local real estate agents agreed that their clients find local housing affordable. "You can get a lot of house for a very reasonable price in Muncie," said Tom Parker of F.C. Tucker/Five Star Realty. "I had an upper management type move from Buffalo and he got twice the home here that he had in New York for less money." The contrast between Delaware County and New York state housing prices was noted this week in connection with news that more than 40 jobs at an IBM customer service center in the Poughkeepsie, N.Y., area would move to IBM's new call center in Daleville. Housing prices averaged more than $340,000 there, a New York newspaper noted -- more than twice the average price here. Parker said he believed the average local sale price was closer to $88,000 rather than $150,000. "I think it's dropped a bit," Parker said. "I think most people perceive this as a buyer's market." Rebekah Hanna of Eagle Real Estate agreed that affordable housing was "a huge benefit in Muncie."

Muncie Ranks High for Affordable Housing Most Affordable: 1. Killeen, TX $136,725 2. Minot, ND $139,033 3. Arlington, TX $139,175 4. Canton, OH $146,333 5. Muncie, IN $150,000 6. Topeka, KS $150,075 7. Fort Worth, TX $151,250 8. Tulsa, OK $153,750 9. Grayling, MI $155,000 10. Wichita, KS $156,500 Most Expensive: 1. Beverly Hills, CA $2,206,883 2. Greenwich, CT $2,018,750 3. La Jolla, CA $1,800,000 4. Santa Monica, CA $1,785,000 5. Palo Alto, CA $1,677,000 6. Newport Beach, CA $1,617,500 7. Santa Barbara, CA $1,599,667 8. San Mateo, CA $1,498,023 9. San Francisco, CA $1,451,250 10. Boston, MA $1,381,250

"If you can afford to rent, there is a house out there that you can buy," Hanna said.

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About the Muncie-Delaware County Economic Development Alliance:

Vision 2011 is the Delaware County's five year economic development program and is administered by the Muncie-Delaware County Chamber of Commerce and Delaware Advancement Corporation. For more information about the EDC, visit www.muncie.com.