ATTOM: Median-Priced Homes Remain Unaffordable in 74% of Housing Markets
ATTOM Data Solutions, Irvine, Calif., released its Q3 2019 U.S. Home Affordability Report, which shows that median home prices in the third quarter were not affordable for average wage earners in 371 of 498 U.S. counties analyzed in the report (74 percent).
The report said the largest populated counties where a median-priced home in the third quarter was not affordable for average wage earners included Los Angeles County, Calif.; Cook County (Chicago), Ill.; Maricopa County (Phoenix), Ariz.; San Diego County, Calif.; and Orange County, Calif., unchanged from the second quarter.
The 127 counties (26 percent of the 498 counties analyzed in the report) where a median-priced home in the third quarter of 2019 was still affordable for average wage earners included Harris County (Houston), Texas; Wayne County (Detroit), Mich.; Philadelphia County, Pa.; Cuyahoga County (Cleveland), Ohio; and Allegheny County (Pittsburgh), Pa.
“Buying a home continues to be a rough road to navigate for the average wage earner in the United States,” said Todd Teta, chief product officer with ATTOM Data Solutions. “Prices are going up substantially faster than earnings in 2019 without any immediate end in sight, which continues to make home ownership difficult or impossible for a majority of single-income households and even for many families with two incomes. If there is any silver lining to the picture, it’s that mortgage rates have fallen back to historic lows. That’s softening the blow of rising prices and actually making home ownership a bit more attainable in most areas of the country.”
Other report findings:
–Home price appreciation outpaced average weekly wage growth in 379 of the 498 counties analyzed in the report (76 percent);
–67 percent of counties analyzed require at least 30 percent of their annualized weekly wages to buy a home in the third quarter.
–61 percent of counties analyzed were less affordable than their historic affordability averages in the third quarter, down from 70 percent of counties in the previous quarter and 73 percent of counties a year ago.
–39 percent of analyzed counties were more affordable than their historic affordability averages in the third quarter.
