Chicago, real estate Only 69.3 percent of houses sold in the second quarter were affordable to families with the U.S. median income of $64,400. Theres a down side to the housing markets recovery: More people now cant afford to buy a house. Only 69.3 percent of new and existing homes sold in the second quarter of 2013 were affordable to households with the U.S. median income of $64,400, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index. Thats down from 73.7 percent in the first quarter, and its the first time this housing affordability measure has fallen below 70 percent since late 2008. The median price of homes sold in the second quarter was $202,000, compared with $185,000 for the same period a year ago, according to NAHB. Home values are strengthening at the same time that the cost of building homes is rising due to tightened supplies of building materials, developable lots and labor, said NAHB Chairman Rick Judson, a home builder from Charlotte, N.C. Together with rising mortgage rates, this contributed to affordability slipping to the lowest level in more than four years, said NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. This problem could get worse, Crowe hinted, if Congress limits the mortgage interest deduction as part of tax reform and ends federal support for the secondary mortgage market, both of which play enormous roles in keeping home ownership affordable. The most affordable major housing market in the U.S. was Ogden-Clearfield, Utah, where 92.8 percent of homes sold in the second quarter were affordable to families earning the areas median income of $70,800. The least affordable major market? You probably guessed it -- San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, Calif., where only 19.3 percent of homes sold were affordable, even though families there have a median income of $101,200. Kent Hoover Washington Bureau Chief The Business Journals
Posted on: Mon, 18 Nov 2013 20:02:30 +0000
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