Housing Affordability Hits Three Year High

The average Joe’s housing dream is increasingly within reach as third quarter results reveal that housing affordability has reached a three-year high. Low mortgage rates have helped boost affordability. Still, labor shortages limit builders' ability to keep up with demand.

With mortgage rates at a three-year low and a healthy job market, housing affordability rose to its highest level in three years in the third quarter of 2019, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI).

In all, 63.6 percent of new and existing homes sold between the beginning of July and end of September were affordable to families earning the U.S. median income of $75,500. This is up from the 60.9 percent of homes sold in the second quarter of 2019 that were affordable to median-income earners and slightly higher than a first quarter 2019 reading of 62.6.

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Economics

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