Mortgage Rates Push US Housing Affordability to Lowest Level in More Than a Decade
According to the latest National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI), just 37.4% of new and existing homes sold during Q3 were affordable to families earning the US median income of $96,000. This is down from 40.5% in Q2 and the lowest reading since NAHB began tracking affordability on a consistent basis in 2012.
According to the Q3 HOI, the national median home price held steady at $388,000, unchanged from Q2. On the other hand, the average mortgage rate jumped from 6.59% in Q2 to 7.13% in Q3—the highest rate in the entire HOI series, NAHB says.
The top five most affordable major housing markets in Q3 were:
- Lansing-East Lansing, MI
- Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, OH-PA
- Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA
- Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, IN
- Scranton-Wilkes-Barre, PA
The top five least affordable major housing markets—all in California—were:
- Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, CA
- Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine, CA
- San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA
- Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA
- San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, CA
FEA compiles the Wood Markets News from various 3rd party sources to provide readers with the latest news impacting forest product markets. Opinions or views expressed in these articles do not necessarily represent those of FEA.