Take advantage of record housing affordability
-April 20, 2012, Clifton Journal
You've likely heard it before: Low interest rates and attractive home prices make it a good time to purchase a home. What you may not know is that despite several years of favorable housing conditions, affordability has arrived at an entirely new level. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) recently reported that its Housing Affordability Index reached a record high of 206.1 in January. This was the first month since the index began in 1970 that it has hit or surpassed 200.
"This means that houses are more affordable now than at any point in the last 42 years," said Jim Weichert, president and founder of Weichert, Realtors. "To put it in perspective, let's look at NAR's methodology. A Housing Affordability Index of 100 represents a median-income-earning family's ability to exactly afford a median-priced, existing single-family home. With the index at 200, that means a family earning the median family income has 200 percent – or twice – the income necessary to qualify for a conventional loan covering 80 percent of a median-priced existing single-family home."
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-Daniel Barli, Esq.
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