IRVINE, Calif., Dec. 30, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — ATTOM, curator of the nation’s premier property database, today released its fourth-quarter 2021 U.S. Home Affordability Report, showing that median-priced single-family homes are less affordable in the fourth quarter compared to historical averages in 77 percent of counties across the nation with enough data to analyze. That’s up from just 39 percent of counties that were historically less affordable in the fourth quarter of 2020, to the highest point in 13 years, as home prices continue rising faster than wages throughout much of the country.
The report determined affordability for average wage earners by calculating the amount of income needed to meet major monthly home ownership expenses — including mortgage, property taxes and insurance — on a median-priced single-family home, assuming a 20 percent down payment and a 28 percent maximum “front-end” debt-to-income ratio. That required income was then compared to annualized average weekly wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (see full methodology below).
Compared to historical levels, median home prices in 440 of the 575 counties analyzed in the fourth quarter of 2021 are less affordable than past averages. The latest number is up from 428 of the same group of counties in the third quarter of 2021 and 224 in the fourth quarter of 2020 – an increase that has continued as the median national home price has shot up 17 percent over the past year to a record high…
