I’m Claire Hamilton, and I spent most of my working life around homes, property values, and numbers.
I started working in residential property valuation in the late 1980s, after earning my Bachelor’s degree in Economics.
Over the years, I looked at thousands of homes, studied local markets, worked through changing interest rates and housing cycles, and saw firsthand how much more there is to the cost of owning a home than the number on the listing.
That last part has always stayed with me.
People naturally focus on the purchase price. It is the biggest number, so I understand why. But after decades in residential valuation, I learned that the purchase price is only one piece of the financial picture.
Property taxes matter. Insurance matters. Mortgage interest matters. So do maintenance, repairs, utilities, HOA fees, remodeling costs, and the occasional very expensive surprise that shows up at exactly the wrong time.
I saw plenty of homeowners who understood every detail of their mortgage payment but had barely thought about what a roof, HVAC system, or rising insurance premium could do to their budget.
Those are the kinds of numbers I have always found interesting.
Why I Started Home Cost Statista
I’m retired now, and I’m enjoying it.
I have two daughters and five grandchildren, so I certainly don’t have trouble finding things to do. Still, retirement did not magically make me stop enjoying my work.
I still read reports. I still notice changes in property taxes and insurance costs. I still find myself comparing housing numbers from one year to another and wondering what is actually happening underneath the headline.
My daughters know me well enough to recognize that.
With their help, I started this website as a place where I could keep doing something I genuinely enjoy.
There are already plenty of housing statistics online. My goal is not to add another page full of percentages with no context.
I want to look at the data the same way I did throughout my career.
Is the number actually useful? What is included in it? What has changed over time? Does a national average tell us much about an individual homeowner? What expenses are being left out of the conversation?
I have fairly strong opinions about some of those questions, and you’ll see them throughout the site.
What You’ll Find Here
Home Cost Statista focuses on the financial side of owning a home.
That includes home prices, mortgages, taxes, insurance, maintenance, repairs, renovations, utilities, HOA costs, and other expenses that tend to receive much less attention than the purchase price itself.
When I use statistics, I want them to come from sources worth trusting. I prefer government agencies, established housing institutions, economic data, and other primary sources whenever they are available.
Then I add the part a dataset cannot provide: context from someone who spent decades working with residential property.
I don’t expect every reader to agree with every conclusion I reach. That would probably make for a rather dull website anyway.
What I do hope is that you leave each article understanding the numbers a little better and thinking about the real cost of homeownership in a more complete way.
If that sounds useful to you, stick around. There is plenty to talk about.