For generations of Americans, owning their own family home has been the single most defining element of The American Dream. For obvious commercial reasons, the National Association of Realtors^® must certainly be counted among the leading proponents of the validity of that ambition. The Sun rises in the east, also.

So it was startling to find last week’s NAR.com “Trends” section headed by a lead article with this headline:

Forget the Traditional ‘House’-Everybody Wants These Types of Homes Right Now

“Forget the traditional ‘House” ???? Realtors (of all people!) telling everybody to forget the traditional house? As single-family home prices continue to rise, it may be a fact that an increasing number of buyers are finding themselves all but priced out of the market. But still—it sounds as if their long-time promoters-in-chief are throwing in the towel on the traditional home (and on the American Dream).

Not so.

Those St. Cloud readers who overcame their shock long enough to read on learned that the gist of the article held a couple of surprises. Based on an extensive analysis of national data from this past April, in brief:

·         Condos, co-ops, and townhomes currently have a higher median price tag than single-family homes.

·         Mobile and manufactured homes appreciate faster, year-over-year, than any category of housing. Their values shot up 30.4% in April.

·         Yet inexpensive condos and townhomes are out there in the national market that “allow cash-strapped first-time buyers to take the leap in homeownership.”

The apparent contradiction in the prices of condos, co-ops, and townhomes having higher median price tags at the same time that first-timers still manage to buy is explained by a distortion wrought by big city examples like Miami Beach, Aspen, and Manhattan. There, “they’ve become the hottest thing in real estate”—creating islands of ballooning prices. Around the rest of the country, single-family homes still appreciate faster than nearby condos within the same county.

One footnote is also worth noting: mobile homes are, for the most part, misnamed. They tend to remain in one location, are expensive to move, and can be easily damaged when called upon to live up to their name. In short, “they aren’t all that mobile.” Still, in April—how about that appreciation?

If it’s your turn to examine all the many options open to this July’s St. Cloud buyers, I hope you’ll give me an early call!

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