By Susan Barnett
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wamc/local-wamc-849272.mp3
Hudson Valley, NY –
According to a new Forbes magazine article, New York's tri-city capital area is the most affordable and best place to live in the mid-Atlantic states. Hudson Valley bureau chief Susan Barnett reports that a new study predicts that residents just an hour to the south will soon be priced out of the area.
Forbes magazine reports that people are abandoning the most expensive parts of the country and looking for cheaper, greener pastures. North Carolina and Colorado are seeing an influx of new residents. The number one cheapest place to live in the mid-Atlantic states, according to Forbes, is the Albany-Schenectady-Troy area. The capital region is followed by Pittsburgh and Harrisburg in Pennsylvania.
Patsy Whitney is an associate broker with Coldwell Banker Prime Properties in the Albany suburb of Loudonville. She credits Loudonville's central location, its school system and it's charm. Yet even Loudonville has seen a softening in prices. One home, a more than three thousand square foot colonial, just sold. She's also seeing more people looking to move back into the city...like the brownstones in Albany's Center Square.
Just an hour down the Thruway is an area that's predicted to price itself right out of the budget of most of the people who live there. Ulster, Dutchess and Orange counties are studying a report from Economic and Policy Resources of Burlington, Vermont that tries to forecast affordable housing needs based on 2006 numbers. And the conclusion is that housing prices and rents are rising far faster than the salaries made by the people who live there.
Orange County executive Diana says it started post 9-11, when people moved out of New York City in droves. He argues the new payroll tax imposed on counties in the MTA region, which includes Orange and Dutchess, aren't helping the matter.
Diana says a tax should be a last resort. The counties are hoping that now developers will step up and start building affordable and workplace housing...Diana says the construction of McMansions just has to stop...and communities have to start encouraging developers to build workplace housing.