Monthly loan payments nearly 40% cheaper than 2006

Housing affordability improved dramatically because of declines in both prices and mortgage interest rates, according to David Stiff, chief economist at Fiserv, a research company specializing in financial services.

“The monthly mortgage payment for a median-priced single-family home is now $700, compared to $1,140 in 2006 – a decline of nearly 40 percent,” Stiff said.

Home prices in the U.S. will decline 3.6 percent into mid-2012 and then rebound 2.4 percent in second half 2012 through the first half 2013, according to Fiserv Case-Shiller projections.

Fiserv’s indices look at home price trends in 384 U.S. markets. Prices fell in 340 markets, with 302 of them hitting new lows in the second quarter.
The National Association of Realtors found a similar trend. The nation’s largest trade group revealed that the median price on existing home sales fell in most of the 150 metropolitan areas surveyed by the organization in the third quarter.

Price declines and low mortgage rates have resulted in a ratio of monthly mortgage payments to median family income that is the lowest on record, based on Fiserv analytics.