There are lot more factors at play than simple cost of housing. Financially speaking, there's the cost of commuting to be factored in, which depending on whether you drive or use public transit might or might not be substantial. More significantly, there's comfort: would you rather live in the middle of the city, or the burbs? How much is it worth to you to be able to bike to work?
I've made a point of living biking distance from every job I've had. It's definitely cost me much more in rent than it's saved me in automobile costs because of the astronomical price of living in an urban center (downtown San Francisco and Manhattan, in my case), but for me the financial aspect was dwarfed by quality-of-life preferences (and the good fortune to be in a situation where I could make such a trade-off).
I made the same decision when we moved to Cambridge (UK). It's a really, really big cycling town and there's a noticable drop off in property prices once you go beyond about a half-hour cycle commute to the science/business park part of the city. The A14 (the main commuter road to that part of Cambridge) is basically a carpark during peak times, and I can cycle to work on (relatively) quiet cycle paths in less than half the time it would take me to drive.
Comments
There are lot more factors at play than simple cost of housing. Financially speaking, there's the cost of commuting to be factored in, which depending on whether you drive or use public transit might or might not be substantial. More significantly, there's comfort: would you rather live in the middle of the city, or the burbs? How much is it worth to you to be able to bike to work?
I've made a point of living biking distance from every job I've had. It's definitely cost me much more in rent than it's saved me in automobile costs because of the astronomical price of living in an urban center (downtown San Francisco and Manhattan, in my case), but for me the financial aspect was dwarfed by quality-of-life preferences (and the good fortune to be in a situation where I could make such a trade-off).
I made the same decision when we moved to Cambridge (UK). It's a really, really big cycling town and there's a noticable drop off in property prices once you go beyond about a half-hour cycle commute to the science/business park part of the city. The A14 (the main commuter road to that part of Cambridge) is basically a carpark during peak times, and I can cycle to work on (relatively) quiet cycle paths in less than half the time it would take me to drive.