New data shows that a median-priced, single-family home and condo are the most expensive they have been since 2007, as many Americans continue to struggle in the current housing market.
ATTOM, a firm that curates land, real estate, and property data, examined information from 99% of all United States counties, finding that the pandemic-era trend of high residential mortgage rates and high prices hasn’t changed.
According to the research from ATTOM, expenses on median-priced homes are now consuming 35.1% of the average national wage, surpassing the general guideline of 28%. This figure now sits at the highest it’s been since 2007.
Throughout the spring, the national median home price hit $360,000 while mortgage rates sat around 7%.
The report highlighted that with both high prices and mortgage rates, wages have not kept pace enough to make homeownership affordable for a vast majority of Americans.
“The latest affordability data presents a clear challenge for home buyers. While home prices are increasing and mortgage rates remain relatively high, these factors are making homes less affordable,” ATTOM CEO Rob Barber said in the company’s analysis. “It’s common for these trends to intensify during the spring buying season when buyer demand increases. However, the trends this year are particularly challenging for house hunters, more so than at any point since the housing market boom began in 2012.”
ATTOM’s report is not the first to highlight the stark situation in the housing market, as the National Association of Realtors reported that the median price of a previously owned US home climbed again in May, jumping 5.8% compared to a year ago.
The NAR reported that this put the price tag of a previously owned home at $419,300, the highest price for a previously owned home ever recorded by the NAR.
Real estate company Redfin also reported earlier this year that now was the most expensive time to buy in the US, with prices averaging more than $380,000.
But while it seems like the housing market has been in disarray for some time now, relief may not be on the horizon just yet.
Before interest rates can come down, Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell says that inflation numbers need to improve.
“We want to be more confident that inflation is moving sustainably down toward 2 percent before we start the process of reducing how tight our policy is, of loosening policy,” he said this week.