According to a new economics report, Americans now need to earn about $108,000 a year to buy a single-family home in most cities.
Oxford Economics revealed this week that a household needs a median annual income of $107,700 in 2024 to purchase a new single-family home, including property taxes and home insurance. That number was nearly double the cost five years earlier in 2019, at just $56,800.
The report said only 36% of households earned enough to buy a home last quarter, which is significantly lower than the 59% of households who were able to buy a home in 2019.
The report summarizes, “Housing affordability has declined significantly in every major metropolis over the past five years as home prices have soared and mortgage rates have nearly doubled.”
The least affordable cities include San Jose, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Honolulu, where less than 15% of households can cover their respective housing costs. Of the 50 largest cities, the most affordable cities were in the Midwest and South, such as Cleveland, Louisville, Detroit, St. Louis, Oklahoma City and Memphis.
Housing costs in those cities ranged from $64,600 to $75,300, with about half of households in these areas earning enough to buy a home.
The most affordable cities from the study were Decatur, Illinois; Cumberland, Maryland; Youngstown, Ohio; Charleston, West Virginia; and Elmira, New York. About two-thirds of households in these cities can afford a single-family home.
Housing costs repeatedly broke records in 2024. In June, Redfin’s findings showed that the average U.S. home sale price rose to $394,000, up 4.4% from the same period last year.
Another report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR)’s annual survey of buyers and sellers found that the share of first-time homebuyers is expected to decline from 32% in 2023 to 24% in 2024, the lowest since NAR began collecting data in 1981. Lowest stake since launch.
(tags to translate) business
