States With the Most House Purchasing Power in the Nation

As supply and demand on the housing market remain lopsided, measuring home purchasing power depends on home values, local incomes, and mortgage rates. These twelve states have the highest home purchasing power in the nation.

Arizona, the state in the number two spot of National Mortgage News' ranking, "can benefit from gains in homebuyer purchasing power, with real home prices falling nearly 5 percent in the state." Arizona has $268,071 in house-purchasing power, whereas the number one-ranked state, West Virginia, had purchasing power at $282,527. Real home prices increased 2.3 percent year-over-year and month-over-month in January 2018, according to First American Financial Corp.

Some states are seeing healthy wage growth that's offsetting rising rates and prices. As a result, real house prices are declining and purchasing power is going up ... The data, from the First American Real House Price Index, measures home price changes, taking local wages and mortgage rates into account "to better reflect consumers' purchasing power and capture the true cost of housing." The January 2018 data is ranked by year-over-year change in RHPI value, where a reading of 100 is equal to conditions in January 2000.

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