Homes "unaffordable" in 99% of nation for average American
Homes "unaffordable" in 99% of nation for average American
Home prices have jumped so much that Americans must pay a third of their income on housing, according to one study.
Put a hard stop to the purchasing of homes by corporations/businesses and people with no intention of living in them.
You should need proof of intention to live in the home within a reasonable amount of time after the purchase in order to make the sale. The flipping of homes for profit by those with cash and more money is a detriment to the market and the american dream for the rest of the population trying to get a foothold.
This situation has turned into a real cock for so many people.
The place I got my mortgage through sends out emails regularly with updates on my home value, current rates, and other assorted stuff. I originally bought this house at the tail end of 2020. It's not the best house around, still needs work, but it had the room we needed, was in our budget (220), and the payment was low because the rate was great (2.75). Our original plan was stay here a bit, get rid of some debt, and then maybe try to find what we'd like to be our forever home, wherever that may be (we're 44).
That idea went south in a hurry. What once probably wouldn't have been worth sinking extra money into to fix, may now be the only choice. The aforementioned newsletter has a section where it shows what you could "save" at current rates by refinancing or taking cash out. The most recent one said I could "save" -$213400, meaning if we refinanced to take cash out to fix things up right now, it would cost us the entire price of the home yet again, on top of what the home and interest will already cost. Where a home in the 400's was achievable before, our home in the 200s would nearly not be now.
I feel terrible for people having to try to achieve home ownership at this point, or probably for the rest of the decade. On the one hand, I understand how fortunate I am to have gotten in when I did, and to have a home period; on the other, like many, I'm now essentially trapped, which has the ripple effect of keeping both rates and prices high because most people aren't going to trade a sub-3% mortgage for 7%+, assuming they can even find a place to go at this point.
Add in corporations branching out into a new area to do their level best to eliminate the concept of ownership for the majority of people, and politicians focusing on the more serious global issues like who goes in which bathroom, and my hope for the future couldn't be squashed any further if you put it in a hydraulic press.
It's more than homes. Groceries have rocketed up in price. Cars are also unaffordable. Business people crowing about how great the (phantom) economy is are going to be leaping out of windows by next year. That's when "the economy" will catch up to the fact that if no one can afford to buy anything then there is no economy.
The only difference between a citizen and a serf is the right of ownership. This is the "freedom" people fought and died for. Welcome to Neo Feudal America where you will own nothing and you will be happy about it because complainers go to the gas chambers. Remember to go get your "Real ID" and passports because you are in the process of being tied to the land too.
Growing up, learning history, I always wondered how average people went from the freedoms of the citizens of Rome to feudal serfs barely more than slaves. I never thought I would get to learn first hand.
If I had to move to my current area now, my rent would be around 50% of my income, and that's with a job that used to be able to support the whole nuclear family bullshit as little as 20 years ago. I'm like $2k below median family income by myself.
Researchers examined the median home prices last year for roughly 575 U.S. counties and found that home prices in 99% of those areas are beyond the reach of the average income earner, who makes $71,214 a year, according to ATTOM.
This sounds like they compared the national mean income to local median home prices which honestly probably makes 99% too generous, it's probably closer to 100% unless the article is explaining what they did poorly.
The lowest cost of living areas are going to be the ones where these houses are most affordable but they're also lower income areas normally and a normal person isn't pulling 71k a year in middle of nowhere Tennessee or whatever.
Mao please come back.
Well yeah, the average American is broke. And the average house is expensive. Give me whatever funding this study receives because this shit didn't need one.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The typical American cannot afford to buy a home in a growing number of communities across the nation, according to common lending standards.
"The dynamics influencing the U.S. housing market appear to continuously work against everyday Americans, potentially to the point where they could start to have a significant impact on home prices," ATTOM CEO Rob Barber said in a statement Thursday.
ATTOM's data adds to a growing body of real estate research in recent years that highlights the lack of affordable housing .
Factoring in a mortgage payment, homeowners insurance and property taxes, the typical home priced today would require 35% of someone's annual wages, ATTOM said.
Cities with the most unaffordable homes include Los Angeles, Chicago, Phoenix, San Diego and Orange County, California, ATTOM said.
Communities surrounding Cleveland, Detroit, Houston, Philadelphia or Pittsburgh have the most affordable homes compared with median salaries for residents there, according to the firm.
The original article contains 486 words, the summary contains 151 words. Saved 69%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
Oh I've a solution for this the average American can all go and try to buy home in that 1% are so it also becomes unaffordable. Problem solved.