By Michael Gerrity | World Propery Journal
Based on new data from Zillow, U.S. home shoppers today need to make more than $106,000 to comfortably afford a median-priced home in America. That is 80% more than in 2020, showing how the math has changed for hopeful buyers, who are more often partnering with friends and family or “house hacking” their way to homeownership.
In 2020, a household earning $59,000 annually could comfortably afford the monthly mortgage on a typical U.S. home, spending no more than 30% of its income with a 10% down payment. That was below the U.S. median income of about $66,000, meaning more than half of American households had the financial means to afford homeownership.
Now, the roughly $106,500 needed to comfortably afford a typical home is well above what a typical U.S. household earns each year, estimated at about $81,000.
