Supply of Affordable Homes Expected To Shrink
The American Dream may be in shorter supply.
(The following are excerpts from the article on NBCNews.com)
A growing number of Americans now find it increasingly difficult to achieve the dream of owning a home. Simply put, they can’t afford the price or save enough money for the down payment.
A new housing affordability model created by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and Realtor.com finds that homebuyers at many income levels could find “an inadequate amount of listings on the market within their price range” in the coming months.
“Affordability is becoming much more challenging,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist. “Home prices over the past five years have risen by 40 percent while income has only gone up half that rate, so on just the price and growth differential, there are affordability challenges.”
“A lot of people have tapped into their 401(k) and a lot have sold stock,” said Jon Hunter, vice president at John L. Scott Real Estate, with agents in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. “They’re also borrowing from their parents. I’ve seen a lot of gifts from parents to children, especially for that first home.”
