Well, I can say that location will dictate a lot of the prices of real estate. I am familiar with all of the areas you mentioned and I cant really answer your question directly because there is no other point of reference. All cities have homes in all price ranges. I know in Charlotte I can spend over $1 Miliion if I wanted to as well as buy a home in town for around $60,000 as well. Same as other areas. It depnends on the neighborhood, location, economics, growth, resort potential, view, and many other characteristics that are hard to put a price tag on.

The best thing is to find an agent in each of the areas or one that specializes in all areas, which may be hard to do, and ask them to explain why prices flucuate so much from city to city.

I hope this helps.