Home Unaffordability in U.S. Hits New High

Political Calculations ^ | 04/25/2018

[SeekAndFind]

The trailing twelve month average of median new home sale prices in the United States reached a new high in March 2018, where preliminary data puts that figure at $326,217.

At the same time, the value of the typical new home sale price in the U.S. is 5.57 times as much as the typical household income, which also represents a new record.

One way to think of that latter figure is that new homes in the U.S. have never been less affordable for the typical American family at any time during the 21st Century than they are right now.

References

Political Calculations. Median Household Income in February 2018. 3 April 2018. Note: We are using a preliminary projection for March 2018.

Sentier Research. Household Income Trends: November 2016. [PDF Document]. . [Note: We have converted all the older inflation-adjusted values presented in this source to be in terms of their original, nominal values (a.k.a. "current U.S. dollars") for use in our charts, which means that we have a true apples-to-apples basis for pairing this data with the median new home sale price data reported by the U.S. Census Bureau.]

U.S. Census Bureau. Median and Average Sales Prices of New Homes Sold in the United States. [Excel Spreadsheet]. Accessed 24 April 2018.

Labels: real estate

[doug from upland]

Gee, I wonder what would happen to housing prices and rent if about 10 million people, who are not supposed to be here, went back to their home country. Econ 101 - supply and demand.

[proxy_user]

But, nevertheless, all these houses have someone living in them. You would think someone would tell them they can’t afford the house they have....

[Freee-dame]

I guess people are not getting upside down on their mortgages so much any more.

[PeterPrinciple]

Thinking:

If you have money to invest, where are you going to invest?

I am at the point of “spend it before the govt destroys your wealth.”

The home is the most logical investment. At least I can enjoy my house. Demand strips supply. The inflated cost to build brings up the price of old homes.

[robroys woman]

My daughter and her husband moved from Studio City, CA to the Phoenix areea. They are accountants that found jobs at the same pay. However, a crappy bungalow on a busy street where they used to live cost $650k and had California style property taxes, etc. They bought a nice almost 3k sq ft house in AZ with a beautiful in-ground swimming pool and two car garage for $240k.

I don’t know why people even stay in CA. Sure, there are a lot of attractions, but you pay dearly and the traffic is so bad you don’t bother.

[mewzilla]

Banks do. Or local governments. Foreclosures and zombie homes. WonDer how much property taxes have to do with this, not to mention the motivation for state and local governments to jack assessments...

[mewzilla]

Zoning issues, regulations, unions, preferential property tax policies for seniors...

[Dilbert San Diego]

Two things to note:

There is a big number of people living in houses who are renting the house, who are not homeowners.

Also, it’s very common nowadays , for parents or other relatives to give enough money to the adult children, to make enough down payment to get a mortgage for the children. The gift letter has become a standard part of mortgage documents for many who write mortgages.

[Mercat]

Mr. Mercat and I just put our home on the market. #1 listing in our area on Zillow.

[Yaelle]

Sure, there are a lot of attractions, but you pay dearly and the traffic is so bad you don’t bother.

---

Was just talking about this yesterday. You hear of something fun happening on the weekend but it’s going to take 1.5 hours each way. And it’s going to cost money which you spent on your rent or mortgage. I’m losing the point to living here too. Though mostly there isn’t much weather. Except drought and fires.

[NEMDF]

Does the use of “new” in these charts refer to BRAND NEW homes, previously unoccupied? If so, seems like this doesn’t necessarily co-relate exactly to the affordability of ALL homes (JMHO).

[bk1000]

If housing is unaffordable, who is buying all the houses?

[wally_bert]

I hope to have the old pad on the market in the not too distant future.

Some homes in the neighborhood have sold.

The one across the street that’s for sale is getting lots of looks.

Moving to Columbia, SC? I might have a deal for you - sometime.

[cgbg]

In many areas hedge funds are buying many houses and then renting them.

This is a relatively new development that has had a major impact on housing prices.

Markets avoided by the hedge funds have much more affordable houses.

[dfwgator]

Chinese are buying properties in bulk.

[Empire_of_Liberty]

Why is the TV daily blitzed with HARP adds?

[Mercat]

We’ve already moved. Nice farm, smaller house. We started clearing out and redoing the old house a year ago.

[wally_bert]

I’d rather gone the country route but reality and the spouse said otherwise.

I went from the sort of burbs to real burbs a few miles away.

Nice place, walking distance to most things, very small yard.

[Teacher317]

Notice how median incomes fell during 2008-2010, Obama's first 2 years, and not long after Democrats majorities were installed in both Houses of Congress.

Funny how that wasn't mentioned much in the media. Hmmmmmm.