WASHINGTON — If people in the D.C. area had one place they preferred to live, almost 20 percent surveyed by Charles Schwab said it would be Old Town Alexandria.
According to the Charles Schwab survey of D.C. metro area residents, about one in 10 would choose Bethesda. More than 5 percent each like Capitol Hill, Chevy Chase, Rockville, Dupont Circle and Crystal City. And about 22 percent of respondents named some other location they preferred to live.
Charles Schwab survey of D.C. metro area residents
Cost keeps 65 percent of residents from living where they would prefer to live. Other top reasons were real estate options not meeting the resident’s needs (20 percent), being too far from work (19 percent) and being too far from friends and family (15 percent).
A lucky 14 percent say they live in their preferred location.
Most people surveyed own their homes. Three in 10 say they rent, and another 10 percent say they have some other arrangement.
Of those who don’t currently own, 45 percent say they aren’t able to save enough money to buy one. About 38 percent say they can’t afford a home in the neighborhood they want to live in and roughly the same percentage say they are still paying debt. That means a large percentage of people who do not own a home want to.
But plenty of people say renting is their preferred arrangement.
About 23 percent of those surveyed who don’t own their home say buying a property isn’t a near-term goal. Roughly two in 10 say they are saving up for something other than a home and the same percentage say it is more financially attractive to rent.
And 10 percent of the respondents say nothing is stopping them from buying a home.
Schwab surveyed 1,000 adults; the margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.
