In the fourth quarter of 2024, a family earning the nation’s median income of $97,800 needed 38% of its income to cover the mortgage payment on a median-priced new home, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Cost of Housing Index.
Low-income families, defined as those earning only 50% of median income, would have to spend 76% of their earnings to pay for a median-priced new home.
“The Cost of Housing Index should serve as a wake-up call for policymakers on the need to enact policies that get at the core of the nation’s housing affordability crisis—eliminating barriers that prevent builders from increasing the supply of new homes and apartments,” NAHB Chairman Carl Harris said in a statement.
Affordability of existing homes increased for both median- and low-income families between the third and fourth quarter. The CHI indices were 37% and 74% in the fourth quarter, compared to 38% and 75%, respectively, in the third quarter.
Read the full report here.
