ABSTRACT
A house in the suburbs—that has long been regarded as the American dream. In the minds of Americans, suburbia has been virtually synonymous with the single-family detached house resting on a green lawn. Americans have aspired and saved for a suburban manse, and a large portion of the population has realized that goal. Across the nation housing prices differed markedly, and in many areas life in suburbia remained a relative bargain. The West Coast and Northeast were least affordable and the source for most of the horror stories regarding suburban housing costs. Fueling concern about access to suburbia has been the rising problem of the affordability of housing in many metropolitan areas. In recent decades housing prices have soared in a number of major metropolitan regions, threatening to keep many prospective homebuyers out of the market.
