Outlooks on housing affordability in the first quarter of 2022 are starkly different depending on whether the average mortgage interest rate for the quarter (3.86%) or the rate at the end of April (5.11%) are assumed in the calculation, according to the NAHB. Using the lower average quarterly rate, the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI) shows that 56.9% of new and existing homes sold between January and the end of March were affordable to families earning the median income in the U.S. of $90,000. If the same calculation used the current rate instead, the HOI for the first quarter would be 48.7%.
The HOI shows that the national median home price increased to a record $365,000 in the first quarter of 2022, up $5,000 from the previous quarter and a whopping $45,000 from a year earlier. Median family income in the U.S., meanwhile, rose from $79,900 in 2021 to $90,000 in 2022.
The top five most affordable major housing markets in the first quarter of 2022 were:
- Lansing-East Lansing, Mich.
- Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, Ind.
- Scranton–Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
- Rochester, N.Y.
- Dayton-Kettering, Ohio
The top five least affordable major housing markets—all located in California:
- Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale
- Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine
- San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City
- San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad
- Stockton
