The Measuring Tape: Affordability
Some would have us think that the moment home prices descend to a magical trend line tied to cost-to-rent and household incomes, the economy will chug chug-along at a normalized pace, our children will once again be capable of buying a home, and all will be well again.
Think again.
The National Association of Home Builders plots affordability trends, has has plotted them to their most favorable level nationally in the past five years. Which is all good, but to counter the nastiness of the current economy, it’s probably going to take more than hitting home price trends to spark any level of enthusiasm in the home purchasing market.
Still, Housing Wire reports on recently released affordability data from the NAHB, including a ranking of the top 10 most affordable cities.
Problem is job loss in many of these places far outweighs the benefit of more affordable prices.
No household income is a tough trend line to sync up with.
Here’s the list nonetheless.
The most affordable major housing market in the country during the fourth quarter was once again Indianapolis, Ind., which has now topped the affordability list 14 consecutive times, according to NAHB. There, just over 93 percent of all homes sold in the fourth quarter of 2008 were affordable to households earning the area’s median family income of $65,100.
According to the Index, the most affordable cities and their median prices are:
1. Indianapolis, Ind., $103,000
2. Warren, Mich. $125,000
3. Youngstown, Ohio, $73,000
4. Detroit, Mich., $90,000
5. Grand Rapids, Mich. $102,000
6. Syracuse, N.Y., $88,000
7. Dayton, Ohio, $90,000
8. Akron, Ohio, $90,000
9. Cleveland, Ohio, $100,000
10. Scranton, Pa., $85,000
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