Homebuyers Need to Earn Nearly Six Figures in Annual Income to Afford Mortgage Payments in Seattle

The Seattle housing market has had the highest price increases in the U.S. for over a year. To afford the typical mortgage, potential homebuyers needed an $11,000 pay raise during that period, or at least $93,400 in annual income.

David Blitzer, managing director and chairman of the S&P Dow Jones group that puts out the Case-Shiller data, told The Seattle Times that low unemployment, cheap mortgage rates, and rising rents suggest home prices will continue to rise across the country, “One dark cloud for housing is affordability — rising prices mean that some people will be squeezed out of the market.” Rising prices in Seattle puts pressure on potential homebuyers to settle, and buy an available home now, rather than be priced out later.

Tiffany French and her boyfriend ... looked to move to Seattle from Lynnwood this year. The first house they looked at was a 106-year-old foreclosure in Ballard priced at more than $500,000 that was such a dump it still had rotting food in the fridge ... And yet, after searching around some more and seeing their options only get worse, they went back and bought it in April ...

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