Tag Archives: Housing Affordability

According to Interest.com's 2014 Home Affordability Study, middle-income families can afford a median-priced home in fewer than half of the country's 25 largest metros as house prices and mortgage rates outpace wage growth. While home price gains have slowed to a more reasonable rate of 4 percent nationally over the past year, that increase is still well ahead of the 2 percent pickup in incomes.

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) reported that 61.8 percent of new and existing homes sold from July through September were affordable to American households earning the median U.S. income of $63,900. That was down from the 62.6 percent of homes sold that were affordable to median-income earners in the second quarter.

In an analysis of housing affordability in 512 U.S. counties, RealtyTrac discovered that lowering the down payment for a conventional mortgage loan from 20 percent to 3 percent would still not translate to housing affordability for a majority of those with non-mortgage debt such as student loans or a car payment.

A recent study conducted by Trulia shows that while Democratic- and Republican-leaning U.S. markets were affected similarly by the housing crisis, the most pressing current issues of the housing industry seem to be more severely affecting Democratic-leaning metros.

Buying a home is still cheaper than renting in most markets across the country, and even cheaper than a year ago, according to the latest Rent vs. Buy report from Trulia. According to Trulia, when the purchase includes 20 percent down and a fixed 30-year mortgage, buying is 38 percent cheaper than renting.

Real estate brokerage Redfin reported a 2.2 percent monthly increase in customers requesting tours with the company's agents last month, about half the improvement recorded this time last year. "Though the September uptick in tour requests was not as strong as last year, this late season pickup suggests that housing activity will hold steady through November before the seasonal slowdown in home searches over the holiday," said Chief Economist Nela Richardson.

Going against recent assertions that student debt may not prove as big a hindrance to the housing market as feared, a new report from researchers at John Burns Real Estate Consulting argues that student loans could cost the industry tens of billions of dollars this year alone.

A new report by LendingTree finds that for the first time in a more than a year, the amount homebuyers are spending on down payments for their properties is on the rise. According to a report released Wednesday, down payment percentages for conventional 30-year fixed-rate mortgages rose a little more than 1.5 percentage points to an average of 17.28 percent from the first to the second quarter.

Looking at the stock of homes for sale in its network of markets, national brokerage Redfin reported that, among the "mid-range" of home prices ($130,000–$375,000) available supply has actually fallen 17 percent over the last three years to a total of 668,000 as of July. In the lowest quartile of the market, the shortage is even more severe, with supply down nearly 50 percent since 2011.

The latest conundrum in the U.S. housing market appears to be that while homes in 94 percent of the country's top metro areas are more affordable than they've ever been, rents are so high that renters in 88 percent of those metros can't afford to save up enough for a down payment to buy a home. According to Zillow's July Real Estate Market Report, a mere 12 metros out of the top 100 in the U.S. feature an affordable market for housing and rentals.