Fewer Q2 Housing Affordability Options

Aug 10, 2017

Nearly 60 percent of new and existing homes sold during the second quarter affordable to families earning the median income of $68,000, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index. This is slightly below the 60.3 percent of homes sold that were affordable to median-income earners in the first quarter.

The NAHB also determined the national median home price rose to $256,000 in the second quarter from $245,000 in the first quarter, while average mortgage rates fell 25 basis points in the second quarter to 4.08 percent from 4.33 percent in the first quarter.

For the third consecutive quarter, the NAHB crowned the Youngstown, Ohio, metro area as the nation’s most affordable major housing market, with 93.3 percent of all new and existing homes sold in the second quarter being affordable to families earning the area’s median income of $54,600. And for the 19th consecutive quarter, the San Francisco metro area was the nation’s least affordable major housing market, with only 7.6 percent of homes sold in the second quarter being affordable to families earning the area’s median income of $113,100.

“While builder confidence remains solid and sales and starts are running at a healthy clip above last year’s levels, housing continues to confront persistent headwinds,” said NAHB Chairman Granger MacDonald, a home builder and developer from Kerrville, Texas. “Rising material prices, particularly lumber, along with chronic shortages of buildable lots and skilled labor are putting upward pressure on home prices and impeding a more robust housing recovery.”

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Phil Hall

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Aug 10, 2017

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