Through September 2021, the median new home sale price in the United States rose to cost 5.52 times the median household income, setting a new record for this measure.

That also means the puts the raw relative affordability of new homes at an all time low:

Median household income in September 2021 is 18.1% of the median new home sale price.

Taking today's near record low mortgage rates into account, we also confirm that the median price of a new home is becoming less affordable for the median household.

The mortgage payments for a median new home rose to 28.8% of median household income in September 2021. That's up from the low of 24.5% recorded at the bottom of the Coronavirus Recession in April 2020.

Analysts at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta use a similar methodology in assessing the relative affordability for all homes in the U.S., where they find similar results for the trend.

References

U.S. Census Bureau. Median and Average Sales Prices of New Homes Sold in the United States. [Excel Spreadsheet]. Accessed 26 October 2021.

Freddie Mac. 30-Year Fixed Rate Mortgages Since 1971. [Online Database]. Accessed 29 October 2021.

Labels: real estate