Aspiring homeowners need to earn at least $114,000 per year to buy a home listed at the national median price of $431,250, according to a study released on Thursday by Realtor.com.
That income estimate assumes a 20% down payment, a 30-year fixed mortgage, and adherence to the 30% rule, which advises that homeowners spend a maximum of 30% of their gross income on housing.
An income of $114,000 means that homeowners would earn about $9,500 per month before taxes — enough to pay the mortgage, property taxes, and insurance on their home.
However, most American households make less than $114,000. The latest U.S. Census Bureau data shows that the median household income in 2023 was $80,610, up from $77,540 in 2022 and nearly $34,000 higher than $114,000.
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Realtor.com notes that the national household income needed to buy a median-priced home in spring 2019 was $67,000, or $47,000 less than the current estimate. In just six years, the income required to afford a median home has increased by 70%.
A Bankrate report from March arrived at comparable figures. The report stated that homebuyers needed annual household earnings of $116,96 to afford a median-priced home, more than the $78,236 required in early 2020.
“Between elevated mortgage rates and the rise of home prices nationally to a record level, many aspiring homebuyers feel like owning a home is out of reach,” Mark Hamrick, Bankrate senior economic analyst, stated in the report.
Mortgage rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages are 6.76% as of Thursday, up from the below 3% rates experienced in 2020 and 2021.
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Even if mortgage rates and home prices are higher now than they were during the pandemic, buyers may still be enticed to buy because of a high supply of homes. Realtor.com notes that the number of homes listed for sale increased by 30.6% in April compared to a year ago. In April, there were nearly a million homes on the market, or 959,251 listings.
Daryl Fairweather, Redfin’s chief economist, stated in a Redfin blog post earlier this week that the greater number of homes on the market could give buyers “an upper hand in negotiation.”
“Now is a good time to buy, if you can afford it,” Fairweather noted.
