By Na Zhao | NAHB Now
New NAHB 2022 Priced-Out Estimates showed that 87.5 million households are not able to afford a median priced new home, and that additional 117,932 households would be priced out of the new home market if the price goes up by $1,000. This post presents how interest rates affect the number of households that would be priced out of the new home market.
For a new home with an estimated median price of $412,506 in 2022 and the recent 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate of 3.5%, a quarter percentage point increase in the interest rate would price out approximately 1.1 million households. The monthly mortgage payments will increase as a result of rising mortgage interest rates, and therefore higher household income thresholds would be needed to qualify for a mortgage loan.