A new report from ATTOM has determined that median-priced single-family homes and condos remained less affordable in the fourth quarter compared to historical averages in 98% of counties (556 out of 566) with enough data to analyze.
The counties with the largest populations that are unaffordable in the fourth quarter are California’s Los Angeles County; Arizona’s Maricopa County (Phoenix); California’s San Diego County and Orange County (outside Los Angeles); and Florida’s Miami-Dade County. On the flip side, the most populous of the counties with affordable levels of major expenses on median-priced homes during the fourth quarter were Illinois’ Cook County (Chicago); Texas’ Harris County (Houston); Michigan’s Wayne County (Detroit); Pennsylvania’s Philadelphia County; and Ohio’s Cuyahoga County.
The national median home price has climbed to $364,750 during the fourth quarter while mortgage rates stayed above 6%. ATTOM’s new data report also found that major expenses on median-priced homes currently consume 34% of the average national wage, an increase of more than one percentage point on both a quarterly and annual measurement. The portion of average wages nationwide required for typical mortgage payments, property taxes and insurance are now almost 13 points beyond a low point reached early in 2021.
“The US housing market continues to generate great profits for most home sellers but also more and more financial stress for would-be buyers. Average workers now must shell out a larger portion of their wages for major home-ownership expenses than at any time since right before the housing market tanked in the late 2000s,” said Rob Barber, CEO for ATTOM. “Despite recent declines in mortgage rates, down payments on typical home purchases have reached four times the average national wage.”
Barber added that “at some point, something’s got to give, or a growing number of buyers will have no choice but to toss in the towel and wait for home ownership to become more affordable. But we clearly are not there yet.”
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