Photographer: Angus Mordant / Bloomberg
Photographer: Angus Mordant / Bloomberg
Low mortgage rates should make it easier for home buyers. Instead, they have helped push an affordable price to a 12-year level.
Buyers in the fourth quarter had to spend nearly 30% of the average salary to pay for a typical home, the largest share for any three months since 2008, according to preliminary figures from Attom Data Solutions. Low loan costs, now below 3% for a 30-year loan, have spurred buying momentum, raising prices nationwide as buyers compete for the supply of declining listings.
Read more: U.S. home prices see the biggest gain since 2014
During the pandemic, prices have risen faster than earnings, jumping by double numbers in 79% of the 499 counties included in the report. More than half of those counties are now as affordable as their historical averages, Attom said in a report Thursday.
Out of Reach
Bringing a typical home to the US is the most difficult rate that has been in 12 years
Source: Attom data solutions
“The future is still very uncertain and an affordable price could move backwards advanced domain, ”Said Todd Teta, Attom ‘s chief production officer. “But for now, things are going wrong for buyers. ”