Housing Affordability Down in October

Housing affordability was down year over year in October, dropping from 162.7 to 146.9 in the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) affordability index.

NAR’s Economists’ Outlook Blog found that affordability was down in part because of rising mortgage rates, which were at 4.88 percent in October, compared to 4.11 percent a year ago. Housing prices also continued to go up in all regions of the U.S., with the South leading the rise at 3.6 percent.

Regionally, all four regions saw a decline in affordability from a year ago. The Midwest had the biggest drop in affordability of 9.6 percent. The South had a decline of 9.1 percent followed by the Northeast that fell 9.0 percent. The West had the smallest drop of 7.5 percent.

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