2024 was the second-least affordable year to buy a home

By MICHAELLE BOND

Philadelphia Inquirer (TNS)

PHILADELPHIA — Last year was the second-least affordable year to buy a home since at least 2012, according to a report by Redfin, the online real estate brokerage. Buying a home was only slightly more affordable in 2024 than in 2023.

But in both 2024 and 2023, a household making the typical U.S. income would have had to spend about 42 percent of that income on monthly housing costs to afford the typical home for sale. In 2024, the typical U.S. household made $83,782, and the typical home cost $429,734.

For the fourth straight year, the income households needed to comfortably afford payments on the typical home was higher than the income a typical household made. Homebuyers would have had to make $116,782 per year in 2024 – the highest income level needed since Redfin started keeping track in 2012.

“For many Americans, buying a home remains more out of reach than ever, and that’s unlikely to change anytime soon,” Elijah de la Campa, a senior economist at Redfin, said in a statement.

Homes are considered affordable if a household spends no more than 30 percent of its income on monthly housing costs. Nationally, median monthly housing costs were 30 percent of income or lower throughout the 2010s, according to Redfin.

For the fourth straight year, the income that U.S. households needed to comfortably afford payments on the typical home for sale was higher than the income a typical household made.

Tom Gralish / The Philadelphia Inquirer / TNS