US Housing Affordability Worsens in Q2 as 34% of Income Goes to Median Home Payments
Updated
Updated · Yahoo Finance · Aug 20
US Housing Affordability Worsens in Q2 as 34% of Income Goes to Median Home Payments
3 articles · Updated · Yahoo Finance · Aug 20
Summary
$410,700 median new-home payments consumed 34% of a typical US family's income in the second quarter, up from 32% in Q1 and marking the first affordability setback in almost three years.
Mortgage rates near 6.8% and a 2% rise in median new-home prices drove the squeeze, with NAHB saying the US war with Iran pushed borrowing costs higher across the economy.
$107,000 median family income underpins the gauge, but households earning half that had to devote 67% of earnings to the same mortgage payment.
Builders are already leaning on costly incentives and mortgage-rate buydowns as sales flatten, while a Bloomberg Intelligence survey found 70% of investment professionals expect single-family housing starts to fall this year.