Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Cincinnati are the country’s most affordable metropolitan areas, according to a recent salary analysis from HSH.com. [1] In Pittsburgh, residents need a salary of just $31,507 to afford a median-priced home in the area.
In Cleveland, residents can purchase a median-priced home with an income of $33K per year, and in Cincinnati, it requires $36K. The least affordable metro areas according to HSH’s analysis were San Francisco, San Diego, and Los Angeles, where residents need a salary of $161K, $111K, and $98K, respectively.
HSH broke down the salary needed to buy a median-priced home in 27 of the country’s biggest markets, including New York City ($95K); Detroit ($36K); Philadelphia ($52K); Washington, D.C. ($82K); Phoenix ($47K); San Antonio ($50K); Orlando ($52K); and Dallas ($58K). Buyers in Dallas require about $2,400 more than they did last quarter to purchase a home, though prices in the area rose just 0.32 percent.
Across the nation, a median-priced home came in at $232,100, with a required salary of $52,969 and an average mortgage payment of $1,235 per month. Of the 27 metro markets HSH analyzed, median home values were down compared to Q4 2016. Thanks to rising mortgage rates, though, affordability didn’t improve in most of the markets.
“This decline in cost wasn’t enough to offset considerable increase in 30-year fixed mortgage rates, so the salary needed to purchase that median home rose yet again in all but five markets,” HSH reported.
On a year-over-year basis, median home prices were higher in all 27 markets, with Cleveland seeing the biggest annual jump at 13.3 percent. Pittsburgh had the least growth, with a 0.04 percent gain. Salaries needed to purchase a median home also rose over the year in all markets, equating to a 9-percent rise across the board since early 2016.
The metro with the lowest median home price for the quarter was Pittsburgh, where homes cost an average of $120,000. Cleveland took the No. 2 spot at $126,100, while Cincinnati and Detroit came in at No. 3 with a median price of $145,000.
View the full data set and analysis at HSH.com. [2]