Most Middle-Class Buyers Can Afford Housing
The Lending Tree quarterly affordability report finds the housing market is still in reach for most Americans: at least those who are the median American income level.
A Housing Wire article says on average, a middle-middle class family makes about $450 more a month above the amount needed to pay for a home priced at the median home value in their area. Additionally, LendingTree discovered lower-middle class families can still afford a median-priced home in 34 of the nation’s largest housing markets.
Houston, Dallas and Minneapolis are the best market for middle-class buyers. They could afford to pay almost $800 more than what they need to pay in order to purchase a median priced home. The best markets for lower-middle-class families are Houston, Pittsburgh, and Buffalo, N.Y.
In Washington, D.C., Minneapolis and Hartford, Connecticut, upper-middle-class families can afford to spend about $2,600 more than what they would need to pay for a median priced home, according to Housing Wire’s report on the Lending Tree study.
The report observes in order to determine whether or not a home is affordable, LendingTree assumes a middle-class buyer will be able to afford a 20% down payment and receive a mortgage loan with a rate of 4.6%.
