Housing Affordability at All-Time Highs

Bear with me on these numbers: they are meaningful to local home buyers and sellers alike. One of the most meaningful calculations The National Association of Realtors® makes is the Housing Affordability Index. The national average over the last 20 years has been just over 15%.  What this means is that, with the average income earned in Chicagoland, 15% goes to paying the mortgage.

The great news is that over the last few years, this has been dropping and between the last quarter of 2011 and the first quarter of these year, we have seen record lows!  7.5% to be exact and that’s half of the local average!  It is a great time to consider buying a home and many people are finding that it is much more affordable than they had thought.  Many buyers and finding that using someone that is an expert in the field allows them to “cash in” on this data and find the home they love.