Housing-News-Report-April-2018

BIG DATA SANDBOX

Median home prices in Q1 2018 were not affordable for average wage earners in 304 of 446 U.S. counties (68 percent) analyzed in the most recent home affordability report from ATTOM Data Solutions. Here’s a closer look at how home affordability plays out in the top markets with population departing and the top markets with population arriving, according to 2017 net migration data from the Census bureau.

Analysis: Affordability is a big challenge in two of the top three markets with the biggest drop in net migration of population: Los Angeles County, California, and Kings County, New York (Brooklyn). Homes are much more affordable in the third market, Cook County, Illinois (Chicago), but the economy is struggling as evidenced by a 3 percent decrease in average wages over the last five years.

Analysis : While not the epitome of home affordability, three of the four top markets with the biggest increase in net migration have home prices below the $300,000 mark, keeping affordability under the 43 percent of income line designated by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The fourth market (Riverside County) has bargain home prices compared to its immediate neighbor Los Angeles County, where median home prices are more than $200,000 higher.

The ATTOM Data Solutions U.S. Home Affordability Index analyzes median home prices derived from publicly recorded sales deed data collected by ATTOM Data Solutions and average wage data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Affordability is based on the percentage of average wages needed to make monthly house payments on a median-priced home with a 30-year fixed rate mortgage and a 3 percent down payment, including property taxes, home insurance and mortgage insurance. Net migration data is from the U.S. Census Bureau and is the difference between the number of people moving into a county and the number of people moving out of a county in 2017.

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APRIL 2018 | ATTOM DATA SOLUTIONS

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