Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Housing Affordability Update

Here's an updated affordability chart for the Washington Metropolitan Statistical Area. The NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI) has data going back to 1991.

HOI is a measure of the percentage of homes sold in a given area that are affordable to families earning that area's median income.

5 comments:

Cara said...

very cool.

it looks like that at 62 HOI, we're almost back to the ~70 or better level that the area stayed at for the decade between 1992 and 2002. Not too much further to go in prices on those starter homes. Of course since it's a median it says nothing about how much of a premium can be upheld by the high end, or what the historical norm is for that.

Harriet said...

I think there's a lot more to it than just income, too. I would think that debt levels, savings, and the job market are probably factors as well when it comes to affordability.

ralph said...

It would be cool if the index breaks 80. Can anyone think of reasons why it shouldn't?

lw said...

http://franklymls.com/LO6938611

The description says "With upgraded appliances" Look at the pictures, what appliances?

C'mon, at least put some efforts into the listing.

NoVAwatcher said...

lw: Wow, that's down to 2001 prices.