While low mortgage rates have been a huge help to those looking to buy a home, the share of income spent on that home is still disproportionately larger for those in the bottom tiers than in the top tiers, Zillow reports.
For example, those looking to purchase a home in the bottom tier can expect to spend about 22.7 percent of their income on a mortgage. For anyone in the middle tier, that number drops to 15 percent. And if you are in the top tier, you can only expect to pay about 11.5 percent of your income on a mortgage.
Renters, as a whole, can expect to spend an even larger share of their income each month on rent, as in the first quarter of 2016 the average renter spent 30 percent of their monthly income for their apartments.
Income and home prices have been the main factors that have led to affordability improving in the top tiers while worsening at the bottom. Incomes in the top tiers are growing more rapidly than those at the bottom while at the same time home values at the top tiers are appreciating more quickly.
