Housing Industry Is Booming, But Families Still Can’t Afford a Home in 71 Percent of America

The housing industry has come a long way in the past decade. But amid the celebration of a recovering market, there remains a grim statistic: Families cannot afford to buy a home in 71 percent of America. That means there are 344 of 486 counties where basic homeownership is a near-unattainable luxury for residents. Although there have been slow gains in the past year due to low mortgage rates, high demand and rising prices will continue to put pressure on American families’ ability to afford a house—even on those making over ten thousand over the average annual wage. 

As a decade-long economic boom pushes into 2020, affording a home isn't expected to become much easier for the average American, according to recent reports.

Average wage earners can't afford to buy a home in 344 of 486 counties, or 71% of the U.S., according to a fourth-quarter analysis from real estate research firm Attom Data Solutions. That's just a slight improvement from from 73% in the third quarter and 75% a year earlier, the Attom report found. 

One reason for the glacial pace of improvement? A booming real estate market amid lower mortgage rates. 

Home prices rose 9% year-over-year in the last three months of 2019, making the "typical home" a "financial stretch for average wage earners," Todd Teta, chief product officer with Attom, said in the report.

To cross the current national median home price of $257,000, homebuyers need a gross income of $67,647, the report said — yet the average annual wage in the U.S. was $58,214, the report notes.

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