Record 70 percent of Seattle-area homes ‘affordable’

Nationwide housing affordability hit a new record high
for a second consecutive quarter in the first three months
of this year, according to the National Association of
Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI).

Tight lending conditions continue to pose a major
obstacle to many prospective home buyers.

The latest HOI data reveal that 77.5 percent of all new
and existing homes that were sold in this year’s first
quarter were affordable to families earning the national
median income of $65,000. This beats the previous record
set in the final quarter of 2011, when 75.9 percent of
homes sold were affordable to median-income earners.

The Seattle-Bellevue-Everett market showed 70.6 percent
of homes were affordable to families making a median
income of $87,885. The median-priced home was listed at
$272,000, down from $370,000 in 2008.

“Homes in this year’s first quarter were more
affordable than they have been at any time in more than 20
years, yet many potential sales are not happening because
of overly tight lending conditions that are keeping
hardworking families from obtaining a suitable mortgage,”
said Barry Rutenberg, chairman of the National Association
of Home Builders. “Without this significant hurdle, the
housing and economic recovery could be proceeding at a
much stronger pace.”

The most affordable major housing market in this year’s
first quarter was Indianapolis-Carmel, Ind., where 95.8
percent of homes sold during the period were affordable to
households earning the area’s median family income of
$66,900.

In New York-White Plains-Wayne, N.Y.-N.J., which
retained the title of the least affordable major housing
market for a 16th consecutive quarter, just 31.5 percent
of homes sold in the first three months of this year were
affordable to those earning the area’s median income of
$68,200.

Other major metros at the bottom of the affordability
chart included San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City,
Calif.; Honolulu; Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, Calif.;
and Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine, Calif., respectively.