Tuesday, Feb 28 2012 6:27PM
The Center for Housing Policy recently released an annual look at housing affordability challenges for working households, revealing that despite media reports that housing is more affordable than ever, nearly one in four working households is spending more than half of its income on housing costs.
The Center for Housing Policy recently released an annual look at housing affordability challenges for working households, revealing that despite media reports that housing is more affordable than ever, nearly one in four working households is spending more than half of its income on housing costs.
The Center found that housing affordability decreased between 2008 and 2010 for both working owners and renters, even though home prices are low. Other economic factors such an income declined for homeowners and those who rent, making even an affordable housing market unobtainable. Results show the share of working households with a severe housing cost burden rose between 2008 and 2010 increasing to 23.6 percent from 21.8 percent.
The report also indicates that nearly 24 percent of the country's 45 million working households used more than half of their incomes to pay for housing costs such as monthly mortgage or rents as well as utilities in 2010, an upward trend from 22 percent in 2008 and 23 percent in 2009.
Larger metropolitan areas ranked higher on the list of households spending more than half of their income on housing expenses, while those living in rural communities are also suffering from expensive monthly costs.
For further information, check out this source:
Center for Housing Policy