The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI) reports 64.5 percent of new and existing homes sold in the third quarter were affordable to U. S. families earning the median income of $64,400, a drop from 69.3 percent in Q2 2013. This was the largest drop in HOI since the second quarter of 2004, MHProNews has learned. NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe says, “While affordability has come down from the peak in early 2012, the index still means a family earning a median income can afford 65 percent of homes recently sold. Some of the decline in the affordability index could be the result of a loss in some more modest priced home sales as tight underwriting standards have limited the purchases by moderate income families.” Indianapolis-Carmel, Indiana and Syracuse, New York tied as the nation’s most affordable major housing markets, while San Francisco-Redwood-San Mateo California was rated the least affordable housing market.
