The National Association of Home Builders reports 73.7 percent of the new and existing homes sold in the first quarter of 2013 were affordable to families earning the annual median income of $64,400, down slightly from 74.9 percent in Q4 2012. The data for the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI) is taken direct from court records. “Thanks to very favorable mortgage rates and prices, housing affordability has remained quite high over the past four years,” says NAHB Chairman Rick Judson. The HOI has not dropped below 70 since 2008, MHProNews has learned. Ogden-Clearfield Utah is the country’s most affordable major housing market, with 93.4 percent of the of the homes affordable to people with the market’s $70,800 median income. Other markets in the most affordable range include Indianapolis-Carmel, Ind.; Lakeland-Winter Haven, Fla.; and Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, Ohio-Penn. For the second consecutive quarter San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, Calif. was the least affordable, with only 28.9 percent of the homes sold in Q1 2013 affordable to those who earned the median income.
