The average American can't afford a home in 70 percent of the country

• Housing is actually a bit more affordable than it was a year ago, and experts are watching if it continues in 2019.
• {88 Still, in over 70% of the country, home prices are higher than the average worker can afford.
• Brooklyn and Manhattan accounted for the largest share of income to buy a home — 115 percent.

With rising wages and falling mortgage rates, Americans can't afford more than 70 percent of the country. According to the ATTOM Data Solutions report, of the 473 US counties analyzed in the report, 335 listed median home prices higher than average wage earners could afford. Among them are counties including Los Angeles and San Diego, California, Miami-Dade County, Florida, and Maricopa County, Arizona.

According to the report, New York City claimed the largest share of the income of those who buy a home. The average earner across the country needs to spend about one-third of his income at home, but residents of Brooklyn and Manhattan have to pay more than 115% of their income. In San Francisco, residents need to spend 103%, and in Maui County, Hawaii, they need to spend 101%. Housing has been found to be affordable in Chicago, Cleveland, Houston, Detroit and Philadelphia.

Edge for the buyer's market

Broadly speaking, today's homes are more affordable than they were a year ago. House prices are still rising in many regions, but are declining in other regions as well. Affordable prices on the market are the result of delays in home construction and long-term stays for homeowners. Both trends are reducing the supply of homes for sale in the market.

The market could create even better conditions for buyers unless interest rates rise and the effects of last year's tax cuts disappear altogether. To. "The simple fact that many homeseekers can't get a home can improve affordability," Todd Teta, chief product officer at ATTOM Data Solutions, said in a statement. rice field.

Lending standards are tightening

Today's market is also more affordable than it was 10 years before the housing crisis. Prior to the Great Recession, house prices were higher or about the same, and inflation-adjusted income was lower. However, offsetting these conditions was a rampant subprime mortgage loan that allowed many to buy a home that they couldn't really afford.

"It was the looser lending standards that kept the market moving, which compensated for the problem of affordability," Teta said. Since then, lending standards have become stricter, and the Federal Housing Authority in March made it even more difficult for many Americans to own a home.