The nationwide median price of a new single-family home is $459,826, but nearly 60% of households can’t even afford a home priced at $300K
March 24, 2025
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As home prices have increased, many households can't afford the median priced home.
Home prices are rising, but wages haven’t increased to match these prices. According to recent data from the National Association of Home Builders’ Eye On Housing blog, 76.4 million households—or about 57%—can’t afford a $300,000 home. This data is based on conventional underwriting standards that assume the cost of a mortgage, property taxes, and property insurance should not exceed 28% of the total household income. On the other end of the spectrum, just 6.92 million households have enough income to buy a $1 million home, and 1.5 million households even have enough for a home priced above $2 million
The nationwide median price of a new single-family home is $459,826, meaning half of all new homes sold in the U.S. cost more than this figure and half cost less. A total of 100.6 million households — roughly 75% of all U.S. households — cannot afford this median-priced new home based on a mortgage rate of 6.5%.Read more
