AI Summary
5 min readA "starter" home for $1 million
The number of U.S. cities where a typical starter home costs $1 million or more has tripled since before the pandemic, hitting an all-time high of 242 cities, according to a new Zillow report. Zillow defines a starter home as the lowest third of home values in any given region — but as Marketplace's Kristen Schwab reported, that definition is getting harder to pin down as the entire housing market reshapes what "entry-level" even means.
Why starter homes cost so much more
Susan Wachter, a professor of real estate at Wharton, declined to offer a unified definition of a starter home because "entry level homes are different depending on where someone lives." But the price first-time buyers pay is outpacing the overall cost of housing, driven by several economic trends.
Continue reading the full summary in the app — free to try.
Read Full Summary →Free • No credit card required
Never miss an episode of Marketplace
Get every new episode summarized in your inbox — free, ~5 minutes to read.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
What you'll learn
- 1 (01:07) **U.S. Economy Outperforms Weakening Global Peers** - PMI data shows U.S. services and manufacturing grew in June, while the Eurozone contracted for a third straight month.
- 2 (04:09) **Manufacturing Growth Driven by Precautionary Stockpiling** - U.S. manufacturing output is up, but the increase appears to be from companies building safety stocks, not from rising consumer demand or employment.
- 3 (05:57) **Wall Street Sell-off Hits AI Stocks** - The bloom appears to be coming off the AI rose, starting in Asia and spreading to Wall Street.
- 4 (06:57) **Ten Years After Brexit: A London Business Owner’s Perspective** - Sam Wallace of From Field and Flower honey stall in Borough Market reports business is “pretty good” but “very up and down.”
- 5 (12:12) **Number of Million-Dollar “Starter” Homes Hits Record High** - Zillow reports 242 cities where a typical starter home is worth $1 million or more, tripling since before the pandemic.
- 6 (15:18) **Market Numbers** - The Nasdaq fell sharply, while the Dow and S&P 500 saw more modest declines. Carnival stock dropped on disappointing guidance.
- 7 (18:34) **Lessons from the 1973 Oil Embargo for Today’s Crisis** - Historian Meg Jacobs compares the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo to the current situation with Iran.
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Guests on this episode
Show Notes
A typical starter home in nearly 250 U.S. cities is now worth $1 million or more, according to Zillow. Is that even a starter home anymore? In this episode, how rapid housing inflation has changed the game for first-time homebuyers and why more Americans are opting for a starter home in the suburbs. Plus: Manufacturing data reflects strong sector growth, U.S. trading partners bear the economic brunt of Trump’s war with Iran, and the 1973 oil crisis provides lessons for dealing with chaotic fuel costs today.
Every story has an economic angle. Want some in your inbox? Subscribe to our daily or weekly newsletter.
Marketplace is more than a radio show. Check out our original reporting and financial literacy content at marketplace.org — and consider making an investment in our future.
Read the stories from today’s episode:
- A key index shows the U.S. economy is expanding. Elsewhere, not so much
- Strong manufacturing numbers mask a sector hedging against war and tariff uncertainty
- For this London honey seller, Brexit has been "a chaotic 10 years"
- When the "starter home" price tag hits $1 million
- What can the oil crisis of 1973 teach us about today?
- A fixer-upper became a forever home for this Massachusetts couple
More from this podcast
Marketplace →