Average Home in Grafton Just Under Half Million

Only Hawaii is more expensive to live in than Massachusetts. And in Massachusetts, Grafton is a lot more affordable than Weston, but much more pricey than Springfield.

That's according to the results of a survey recently released by Coldwell Banker that analyzed the most expensive and the most affordable  markets across the country. The survey "provides a snapshot of the average listing price of four-bedroom, two-bathroom homes across the country. This year’s report analyzes more than 72,000 home listings in more than 2,500 U.S. markets, comparing the listing prices of similar homes in markets across the country from January 2012 to June 2012."

In a price comparison of Massachusetts' average home costs, Grafton sits somewhere in the middle at $437,581. Home prices compared to other surrounding towns are slightly less, with Northborough ranking at $533,527 and Shrewsbury, which is $506,852.

The cheapest average in the survey in Massachusetts was Springfield at $136,435 and the most expensive went to Weston at more than $1 million.

Overall, the report found the average listing price of a four-bedroom, two-bathroom home in the U.S. to be $292,152. Affordability remains strong in many markets across the country as 36 percent of the markets analyzed by the report had an average home listing price of less than $200,000 for four-bedroom, two-bathroom homes, reported Coldwell Banker.

The five most expensive markets are all in California, with four in the San Francisco Bay Area. Los Altos, Calif. tops the list, followed by Newport Beach ($1,658,000), Saratoga ($1,582,434), Menlo Park ($1,506,909) and Palo Alto ($1,495,364). But even with these high priced markets, California was not the most expensive state. The average listing price of a four-bedroom, two-bathroom home in California ($431,625) is less than both Hawaii ($742,551) and Massachusetts ($489,063).

Read the entire report and survey results here.