Southern Nevada housing among most affordable again

Las Vegas valley - like Green Valley, Summerlin, Henderson, Anthem, Spring Valley and Eldorado - was fast pricing itself out of the real estate market a few years ago. The recent unbelievable boom pushed property values way past the average household income, forcing many to buy homes with exotic mortgages that they really couldn't afford, or leaving others out of the market altogether.

That was the flavor of the Sin City housing scene then. Things, fortunately, have changed quite a bit from those days.

BusinessWeek.com and a research operation Reis made some highly advanced calculations to rank the top 20 cheapest real estate markets in the entire nation. The study actually compared how much it costs to own and maintain a home vs. renting one. Reis compiled these figures from its own second quarter rent stats and from Zillow.com's second quarter home price data. And the envelope, please.

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