Meaning of "To be priced out of one's hometown" [closed]

Question

What is the meaning of this sentence: "Most of them have been priced out of their hometown"?

Does it mean that "due to financial problems they can't afford to live in their hometown?"

Answer 1

The prices reached by properties in attractive areas exceed what a normal local person can afford because the properties are bought by external people with more money. In consequence, locals cannot compete in the local housing market and are said to be "priced out".

"‘There goes my chance’: house prices rocket as Cornwall locals priced out"

Guardian

For example, in St Mawes, a fishing village in Cornwall in England:

Figures published on Saturday by Halifax show St Mawes has had the biggest increase in average prices of any British seaside town over the last year, soaring by 48% from £340,000 to £502,000.

Guardian

We may be sure that average local income has not risen by such a large fraction (about 50%) in a year, so what may have been affordable for a local person a year ago is not affordable now. Prices have risen and that means most locals are out of the market. They are priced out.

Answer 2

Per Investopedia

Being priced out of the market means that it has become too expensive for you.

Being priced out is commonly used to refer to the real estate market. For example, people in cities with extremely high average home prices, such as Newport Beach, California, would be said to be priced out of the market if they could not afford even an entry-level home. In markets where people have been priced out, these people may become permanent renters or simply move on.

Note that according to this definition, it doesn't mean that the party being priced out has to move. It simply means that they are priced out of the real estate market (i.e. owning property).

Answer 3

"priced out" implies that a person can afford to live in a town based on normal/historic housing prices for that town.

However, due to external causes i.e. changes in the housing market, the housing costs in that town have risen significantly, and they can no longer afford to live in their own town.

Examples.

Joe lived in the charming town of Springfield for 20 years, and the cost of rent was always about 25% of the monthly salary for a welder. However, the town has become popular with city commuters. Housing and rent prices have skyrocketed. Joe must pay it or give up the apartment to a city commuter who would pay more. Now Joe is paying 49% of monthly salary for rent. Joe is being "priced out" of the neighborhood!

Ted and Donna bought their house in 1969, and it's fully paid off. They pay property taxes based on the assessed value (current market value) of the property. After two major housing booms, their house is worth 4 times what it was before. Which means they are paying 4 times the property tax they were before. They can't afford the property taxes, since they are retired and live on a fixed income. So even though they own their house free and clear, they are being "priced out" of their own town!

To stop the crisis of people - particularly seniors - being priced out of their own homes by spiraling property taxes, California passed Proposition 13, freezing the tax assessment of a property to its value at the time it was purchased.