Here’s What a $10,000 Monthly Mortgage Would Buy in These 5 Cities

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A $10,000 monthly mortgage could buy you a home with a $1.45 million sticker price. Read on to see what that looks like in five hot housing markets. 

What could you buy with a $10,000 monthly mortgage?

According to our mortgage calculator, a $10,000 monthly mortgage is roughly what you’d pay on a $1.45 million home — assuming you put down 20% ($290,000), took out a 30-year mortgage, and got a 7.5% mortgage rate.

A $1.45 million home may sound like a lot of space. But depending on where you choose to live, $1.45 million could mean a luxury house in the suburbs or a 2 bedroom condo in a big city.

What could $1.45 million buy in some of America’s most popular cities? Let’s take a look at what’s available on Zillow and see.

1. New York City (Manhattan)

Bedrooms: 1–3Bathrooms: 1–3Square footage: 600–1,500Median sale price for New York City: $788,000

A 600 to 1,500 square foot apartment in Manhattan will cost you roughly $1.45 million. That’s about 83% less space than what you could buy in Buffalo (around 7,750 square feet) for about half the price ($650,000).

2. Honolulu (Waikiki Beach)

Bedrooms: 1Bathrooms: 1Square footage: 700–800Median sale price for Honolulu: $590,000

Buying real estate near Honolulu’s iconic beach will mean sacrificing space for volcanic views, white sand beaches, and turquoise waters; a $10,000 monthly mortgage will get you about 700 or 800 square feet. At that price, you’re paying roughly $1,812 to $2,070 per square foot.

Of course, if you want free cleaning service, you could also take your hypothetical down payment ($290,000) and live at the Waikiki Beach Hilton Hotel at $200 per night for roughly 4 years.

To be sure, it isn’t just Waikiki Beach’s real estate that’s valued so highly. Housing shortages and spiked demands have made it difficult to find housing pretty much anywhere in Hawaii, especially if you’re trying to own and not rent. For example, if you were to buy in Honolulu itself, you could get 900 to 1,000 square feet with $1.45 million.

3. San Francisco (Union Square)

Bedrooms: 2Bathrooms: 2Square footage: 1,200–1,500Median sale price for San Francisco: $1.4 million

No matter where you buy in San Francisco, you’re going to spend roughly $1 million to get anything more than 1 bed and 1 bath. With $1.4 million to play with, you could get 2 beds and 2 baths — if you’re lucky. Competition there is still fierce, and any homes that start at $1.4 million will likely get bid up higher.

4. Los Angeles (Hollywood)

Bedrooms: 2Bathrooms: 1–2Square footage: 1,500–2,000Median sale price for LA: $978,000

Los Angeles was voted the fourth most expensive city in the world, tied with Hong Kong. Studio apartments here go for about $2,000 a month, and luxury homes can value in the multi-millions. But what could you buy with a $10,000 monthly mortgage?

Let’s look at one of the most famous places — if not the most famous place — in the world: Hollywood.

There, a $10,000 monthly mortgage could buy you a 2 bedroom, 2 bath with 1,500 to 2,000 square feet, which comes out to around $725 to $966 per square foot. That’s not bad, considering your neighbors’ houses are valued at $2 to $5 million.

5. Washington D.C (Capitol Hill & Penn Quarter)

Bedrooms: 2–3Bathrooms: 2–4Square footage: 1,300–2,300Median sale price for D.C: $643,000

A $10,000 monthly mortgage in the nation’s capital could buy you a 1,300 square foot condo in Penn Quarter, or roughly 2,000 to 2,300 square feet of home on Capitol Hill.

Of course, you could just pop over the Anacostia River and buy the same square footage (roughly 1,500) for a home that’s more than half the price ($500,000).

How can you buy more home for less?

Step one: Buy a home outside of big cities, specifically those that have limited land, low housing supply, and unsustainably high demand.

Step two would be to save more down payment, take steps to increase your income, and look for buying opportunities like foreclosures and short sales. If buying a home isn’t urgent, you might also want to wait and see in what direction the Federal Reserve takes its rate-hiking campaign. Even shaving a few basis points off your mortgage could help you buy more home than at today’s rates.

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The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.Citigroup is an advertising partner of The Ascent, a Motley Fool company. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Zillow Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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