05/04/2022
HOUSTON — (May 3, 2022) — Fewer households throughout the Greater Houston area could afford to purchase the median-priced home in the first quarter of 2022, as home prices and mortgage interest rates climbed. Homebuyers in the Houston Area need 26.9 percent more income than they did a year ago to afford the median-priced home, according to the newly launched Houston Association of Realtors® (HAR) Housing Affordability Index.
HAR’s Housing Affordability Index measures the percentage of households that can afford to purchase a median-priced, single-family home for regions and select counties in Texas.
About half of all Houston-area households, 47 percent, earned the minimum annual income needed to purchase a $330,800 home in the first quarter of 2022. That’s down from 58 percent in the first quarter of 2021. The monthly payment, including taxes and insurance, on a 30-year, fixed-rate loan would be $1,840, assuming a 20 percent down payment and effective composite first quarter interest rate of 3.82 percent.
The Houston Area was more affordable compared to the Austin and San Antonio metro areas, according to HAR’s Housing Affordability Index. The Dallas metro area had comparable affordability to the Houston Area for the first quarter of 2022. However, the analysis found all metro areas examined are less affordable today than they were a year ago. Households in Texas need to earn 29.8 percent more income than they did a year ago to afford a typical home. A household income of $73,200 was required to qualify for the purchase of a $328,990 statewide median-priced, single-family home in the first quarter of 2022.
Compared with Texas, 45 percent of the nation’s households could afford to purchase a $368,200 median-priced home, which required a minimum annual income of $74,400 to make monthly payments of $1,860. Nationwide affordability was down from 55 percent at this time last year.
