Homeownership is receding further out of reach for most Americans as elevated mortgage rates and rising prices stretch the limits of what buyers can afford.

A homebuyer now needs to earn at least $114,000 a year to afford a $431,250 home – the national median listing price in April, according to data released Thursday by Realtor.com

The analysis assumes that a homebuyer will make a 20% down payment, finance the rest of the purchase with a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, and that the buyer’s housing costs won’t exceed 30% of their gross monthly income — an often-used barometer of housing affordability.

Based off the latest U.S. median home listing price, homebuyers need to earn $47,000 more a year to afford a home than they would have just six years ago. Back then, the median U.S. home listing price was $314,950, and the average rate on a 30-year mortgage hovered around 4.1%. This week, the rate averaged 6.76%.

  • TheDemonBuer@lemmy.world
    52·
    3 days ago

    This isn’t a failure of the market to build affordable housing

    It absolutely is.

    I’m all for zoning reform. We should reduce or eliminate single family only zoning, and other unnecessary building requirements, in urban areas. But the idea that developers are champing at the bit to go build a lot of very low margin, quality, affordable multi family housing, and that the only thing holding them back is government regulations, is naive at best.

    • blarghly@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      3 days ago

      Right. Developers are champing at the bit to make money.

      A lack of correctly zoned land and a plethora of red tape means that building multifamily will be extremely expensive, and thus, extremely risky. Thus, investors demand a high margin return for the risk they are taking. Upzoning and removing red tape increases the supply of land where you can build a multi-family unit, so investors are willing to accept lower-margin returns. It also opens the door to smaller local developers and cooperative developments. And the then expanded amount of multifamily housing drives down the cost of the luxury units as well.

      One reason developers build luxury units instead of affordable units is that once they build, they can just sit on their investment and wait until people buy the units at the price point they want. Georgists tax schemes say “shit or get off the pot” - since they can’t profit from the underlying value of the land, they want to sell their units as quickly as possible so they can stop paying the tax. This incentivizes developers to build units that sell quickly, rather than units that sell for the highest price.

      • TheDemonBuer@lemmy.world
        1·
        3 days ago

        Upzoning and removing red tape increases the supply of land where you can build a multi-family unit, so investors are willing to accept lower-margin returns.

        Are they? You seem pretty convinced, but I’m not so sure. Upzoning initiatives have been happening in various states and metro areas in the country in recent years, is there evidence that lower margin developments have increased in those areas?

        That being said, I don’t necessarily oppose any of the measures you’re proposing, but, while they might work in theory, I’m not convinced they will achieve the results you believe they will achieve, in practice. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with trying this strategy, though. By all means, let’s try it, even if only as a trial somewhere.

        • blarghly@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          3 days ago

          https://www.texastribune.org/2025/01/22/austin-texas-rents-falling/

          As in many other major cities, existing homeowners and neighborhood groups that opposed allowing more homes to be built for decades held significant sway at Austin City Hall. But those forces lost favor amid the city’s skyrocketing housing costs during the pandemic. Austin voters elected City Council members — including Vela — more friendly to housing development.

          Now, Austin is one of the only major U.S. cities where rents are falling.

          • TheDemonBuer@lemmy.world
            11·
            3 days ago

            Well, that sounds great, then. I still think you’re being naive, and that you’re putting too much faith in the invisible hand of the free market, but, as I’ve said several times now, I’m not opposed to upzoning. Not at all. By all means, go for it.