More US metros have seen affordability worsen than improve.
A new joint-study by the National Association of Realtors and Realtor.com shows that, out of the metros analyzed, affordability worsened in 45 and improved in 34.
The study looked at mortgage, income data, and listings on Realtor.com, and ranked markets on the Realtors Affordability Distribution Curve and Score, with a score of 1 or more generally meaning that homes for sale are more affordable to households in relation to their income distribution.
Los Angeles-Long Beach has the worst affordability ranking at 0.34, while Youngstown-Warren, Ohio-Pennsylvania market had the highest Affordability Score at 1.25.
“The survey confirms that the lack of entry-level supply is putting affordability pressures on too many buyers – especially those at the lower end of the market, where demand is the strongest,” said NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun. “This is why first-time buyers continue to struggle finding affordable properties to buy and are making up less than a third of home sales so far this year.”
Even as wage rise, the home price increases together with rising interest rates are outpacing household income gains.
