United States | News & Politics

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Now, Americans must earn roughly $106,500 in order to comfortably afford a typical home, a significant increase from the $59,000 annual household income that put homeownership within reach for families in 2020, according to new research from digital real estate company Zillow.

Home ownership is commonly considered affordable if a buyer spends no more than 30% of their pre-tax income on housing costs, including mortgage payments, which at the time of the study, was around 6.6%.

Data from real estate investing platform Arrived shows that not even higher income earners — defined as those in the top 30% — can comfortably afford to buy a home in the larger U.S. metro areas, regardless of their age.

"Housing costs have soared over the past four years as drastic hikes in home prices, mortgage rates and rent growth far outpaced wage gains," said Orphe Divounguy, a senior economist at Zillow in a note on the report.

"Mortgage rates easing down has helped some, but the key to improving affordability long term is to build more homes," Divounguy said.

Some of the more affordable cities in which to plant roots include Pittsburgh, where an income of roughly $58,200 is sufficient to buy a home without breaking the bank.

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