During this year's spring homebuying season, shoppers could be spending over 30 percent of their income on housing payments, surpassing the threshold for being cost-burdened.
The national monthly mortgage payment for a median-price home is now $1,486, a 13 percent increase year-over-year, according to the latest Realtor.com report. That payment alone would be roughly 30 percent of the current median household income. MarketWatch reports that the main culprit restricting the market is the lack of supply, driving up prices.
In Seattle and San Francisco, markets that have seen incredibly high demand in recent years, the median mortgage payments increased by $449 and $378 from a year ago. But even in some less high-profile markets such as Minneapolis and St. Louis, home buyers have to shell out monthly mortgage payments than are $100 or even $200 more expensive than they would have been a year ago.
