Housing affordability drops to lowest level in more than four years

There's a down side to the housing market's recovery: More people now can't afford to buy a house.

Only 69.3 percent of new and existing homes sold in the second quarter of 2013 were affordable to households with the U.S. median income of $64,400, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index.

That's down from 73.7 percent in the first quarter, and it's the first time this housing affordability measure has fallen below 70 percent since late 2008.

The median price of homes sold in the second quarter was $202,000, compared with $185,000 for the same period a year ago, according to NAHB.

This problem could get worse, Crowe hinted, if Congress limits the mortgage interest deduction as part of tax reform and ends federal support for the secondary mortgage market, "both of which play enormous roles in keeping home ownership affordable."

The most affordable major housing market in the U.S. was Ogden-Clearfield, Utah, where 92.8 percent of homes sold in the second quarter were affordable to families earning the area's median income of $70,800. The least affordable major market? You probably guessed it -- San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, Calif., where only 19.3 percent of homes sold were affordable, even though families there have a median income of $101,200.

as read in HBJ August 2013