Denver moved from the country’s eighth least affordable metro to the fifth in March after home sold prices rose 23% year-over-year to a staggering $564,990, over 6 times the median household income, The Denver Post reports. Also on the list of the least affordable housing markets is Colorado Springs, where the median home sold for $435,000 in March.
Colorado’s affordability crisis is driven by a low supply of homes for sale as well as a wide price to income ratio in the state’s major metros. As a result, Gen X buyers are the only market players with incomes high enough to afford median-priced homes in most counties.
Point2Homes, in a separate study last month, looked at generational affordability in the 100 largest U.S. counties, comparing median household incomes against median home prices, as well as the wealth available to fund a down payment. Denver, Arapahoe and El Paso counties, home to about 36% of the state’s population, were included.
“Housing costs are taking up progressively more of a household’s income, making the issue of home affordability a multi-faceted problem, one that needs local, personalized solutions,” said Carmen Rogobete, a communications strategist at the International real estate portal, which is part of Yardi Matrix.