The housing market is still recovering from the recession, and a recent report shows that it’s not doing so at nearly the same pace as before. It looks like many Americans are getting left behind when it comes to home affordability.
A strong housing market in 2021 was fueled by a lack of inventory, cheap mortgage rates, and lightning-fast sales turnarounds – and 2022 shows no signs of slowing down.
According to a recent research from ATTOM, a worldwide property database headquartered in Irvine, Calif., median-priced single-family houses were less unaffordable in the fourth quarter of 2021 than historical norms in more than three-quarters (77 percent) of U.S. counties with accessible data. This is an almost 100 percent increase from the 39 percent of US counties in the fourth quarter of 2020.
Over the last year, the median price of a house in the United States has risen by 17% to a new high of $317,500.
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When compared to historical norms, where are houses the least affordable?
Overall, ATTOM looked at 575 US counties for which adequate data was available, and concluded that in the fourth quarter of 2021, houses in 440 of these counties — or 77% — were less affordable than historical norms.
According to the ATTOM U.S. Home Affordability Index, the following counties had the least affordable homes in the fourth quarter of 2021:
- Rankin County is located in the state of Mississippi.
- Idaho’s Canyon County
- Rutherford County is located in the state of Tennessee.
- Gaston County, North Carolina
- Wayne County is located in the state of Ohio.
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In counties with a population of at least 1 million people, the following counties have the least affordable housing:
- Tarrant County is located in the state of Texas.
- Maricopa County is located in the state of Arizona.
- Mecklenburg County, North Carolina
- Hillsborough County is located in the state of Florida.
- Nevada’s Clark County is located in the state of Nevada.
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When compared to historical norms, where are the most cheap homes?
Where can such a property be located, with just 23% — or 135 — of U.S. counties judged more cheap than historical averages?
According to the ATTOM index, the following counties had the most cheap houses in the fourth quarter of 2021 when compared to historical averages:
- Macon County, Illinois is located in the state of Illinois.
- Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania
- San Francisco County is located in the state of California.
- Peoria County is located in the state of Illinois.
- Columbiana County is located in the state of Ohio.
And, when just includes counties with a population of at least 1 million people, here’s the most cheap list — again, according to historical averages:
- New York County is located in the state of New York.
- Montgomery County is located in the state of Maryland.
- Cook County is located in the state of Illinois.
- Santa Clara County is located in the state of California.
- Fairfax County is located in the state of Virginia.
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A typical house in one out of every five counties need a yearly earnings of $75,000 or more.
In 114 of the 575 areas studied, or 20%, residents need yearly income of more than $75,000 to meet main bills such as mortgage, property taxes, and insurance on a median-priced house.
On the coastlines, the counties with the highest yearly incomes required to purchase a median-priced property were:
- New York County is located in the state of New York. — $274,679
- $252,589 in San Mateo County, California
- San Francisco County is located in the state of California. — $251,054
- Santa Clara County is located in the state of California. — $229,301
- $223,713 in Marin County, Calif.
On the other hand, the counties with the lowest yearly earnings required to buy a typical house in the United States were:
- Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania — $10,927
- $16,483 in Bibb County, Georgia
- $17,784 in Cambria County, Pennsylvania
- Macon County, Illinois is located in the state of Illinois. — $19,317
- $20,363 in Blair County, Pennsylvania
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In roughly 80% of counties, housing prices have outpaced wage increases.
A sad reality: In 78 percent of the 575 counties studied, house price appreciation was more than weekly salary increase in the fourth quarter of 2021. (447 in total). It was the biggest in:
- Harris County is located in the state of Texas.
- Maricopa County is located in the state of Arizona.
- San Diego County is located in the state of California.
- Orange County is located in the state of California.
- Miami-Dade County is located in the state of Florida.
On the other hand, the following counties are among those where salary growth has outpaced housing price appreciation:
- Los Angeles County is located in the state of California.
- Cook County is located in the state of Illinois.
- Dallas County is a county in Texas.
- New York’s Kings County
- King County is located in the state of Washington.
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Last but not least
If you’re thinking about buying a house, obtain a mortgage preapproval to discover what you may be able to afford. Make sure to look into typical property prices in your desired locations.
A home loan calculator may help you figure out how much house you can purchase depending on your income and financial circumstances, as well as your monthly mortgage payments. Aside from the primary costs mentioned above, you’ll want to set aside money for routine maintenance, emergency repairs, and other needs.
Methodology: The amount of income required to pay main homeownership expenditures (mortgage, property taxes, and insurance) on a median-priced single-family house was determined for typical wage workers.
This is based on a 30-year fixed mortgage, a 20% down payment, and a maximum “front-end” debt-to-income ratio of 28 percent. The required income was calculated using annualized average weekly pay data from the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Data was gathered from 575 counties where sufficient information was available.
This item was syndicated by MediaFeed.org and originally published on LendingTree.
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