America's housing affordability challenge: How big and how broad?

A UHERO Blog post

We’ve heard lots about the unaffordability of housing. How widespread is it and how extreme?

To assess this, we need to do more than some of the simple illustrations out there, like those that compare the ratio of home price to income over time. Affordability also depends on other factors, including the size of down payments, prevailing interest rates, property taxes, and home insurance rates.

I compare the market median home price to a measure of the affordable price for the US and select markets. Affordability deteriorated significantly during and after the COVID pandemic. And a number of traditionally affordable cities are now unaffordable for many households.

The modest reduction in mortgage rates since 2024 and household income growth are beginning to reduce the affordability crunch.

Read the full blog post at https://uhero.hawaii.edu/americas-housing-affordability-challenge-how-big-and-how-broad/