By Rose Quint | Eye on Housing
Shortages of buildable lots and skilled labor, along with excessive regulations, rising mortgage interest rates and ongoing home price appreciation pushed housing affordability in the fourth quarter of 2016 to its lowest point since the third quarter of 2008, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI).
In all, 59.9 percent of new and existing homes sold between the beginning of October and end of December were affordable to families earning the U.S. median income of $65,700. This is down from the 61.4 percent of homes sold that were affordable to median-income earners in the third quarter.
The national median home price increased from $247,000 in the third quarter to $250,000 in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, average mortgage rates edged higher from 3.76 percent to 3.84 percent in the same period.
