Affording a home today requires households to earn good money and have a sizeable down payment saved, according to a recent report. Based on the current interest rate of 7.22% over a 30-year mortgage, buyers today would need to earn an annual income of roughly $120,000, plus a 10% down payment, to afford a home, according to the Clever Real Estate report. However, the average American household earns about $45,000 less than that, and many first-time buyers can't afford a 10% down payment.
Homeownership is considered affordable if households spend at most 28% of their monthly income on housing costs. For most cities, more is needed to afford the median home at the median local income. Higher mortgage rates and home prices mean that 20% of Americans spend roughly 30% of their paychecks on monthly home loan payments, and 10% spend more than half of their pay, according to a recent NewHomesMates.com survey.
Based on the median annual salary and a 10% down payment, most first-time buyers can afford a home priced at about $207,529 — 38% less than the current median-priced home. Increasing the down payment to 20% lowers the salary threshold to $98,202, but saving that amount could take years, the Clever report said. Some buyers are finding creative ways to gain a foothold in the challenging market, according to a recent Realtor.com report.
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