By Jann Swanson | Mortgage News Daily
The rule of thumb for household budgeting is that no more than 30 percent of income should go toward housing; more constitutes a cost-burdened household and spending more than 50 percent a severely cost one. The Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, in concluding its report on The State of the Nation’s Housing, estimates that 40.9 million households were cost-burdened in 2012, more than a third of U.S. families and individuals. Despite a drop of 1.7 million between 2011 and 2012, these households had increased by 9 million in the previous 10 years and, more disheartening, 5.8 million of this increase were severely cost burdened households.
