Realtor.com® April Housing Report
The Required Household Income to Purchase a Home Exceeds $250,000 in Four California Metros
According to the Realtor.com® April housing data, the national required household income to purchase the median priced home rose to $116,000, up $5,900 from a year ago, after accounting for the cost of tax and insurance. For hopeful buyers in California’s major metros of Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco and San Jose the household income required to purchase the median-priced home is over double the national figure.
April 2024 Housing Metrics – National
| Metric | Change over Apr 2023 | Change over Apr 2019 |
| Median listing price | +0% (to $430,000) | +36.5 % |
| Active listings | +30.4 % | -35.4 % |
| New listings | +12.1 % | -21.8 % |
| Median days on market | +1 days (to 47 days) | -7 days |
| Share of active listings with price reductions | +3.2 percentage points(to 15.5%) | +1.0 percentage points |
“California is a fascinating market not only because the income-required figures are an eye-popping quarter of a million dollars, but because it is a microcosm of the variety we’re seeing in housing markets nationally,” said Danielle Hale, Chief Economist, Realtor.com®. “In areas like San Francisco home prices have fallen enough to offset rising mortgage rates, and the income needed to buy a home has dropped. In other markets, like San Jose and Sacramento, home price declines have been more modest and rising mortgage rates have pushed required incomes higher despite lower home prices. And finally, the majority of major U.S. markets see trends like we’re seeing in Southern California. In Los Angeles, Riverside, and San Diego rising home prices and mortgage rates have combined to push required incomes higher—in some cases like in these California markets, up by double-digits compared to one year ago.”
Buying in California Comes at a Price
Six metros across the country required a household income of over $200,000, with California’s largest metros leading the pack: San Jose (household income $361,000), Los Angeles (household income $298,000), San Diego (household income $259,000) and San Francisco (household income $256,000). The major East coast hubs of Boston (household income $226,000) and New York (household income $218,000) closely followed.
Counter to the larger household income required to purchase the median-priced home in the major coastal metros, there were 16 metro areas that required a household income of less than $100,000. The most affordable by this measure were Pittsburgh (household income $67,000), Detroit (household income $69,000), and Cleveland (household income $71,000).
List of the 10 Metro Areas with Lowest Required Income to Purchase Median Home
- Pittsburgh, Pa. – $67,000
- Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, Mich. – $69,000
- Cleveland-Elyria, Ohio – $71,000
- Birmingham-Hoover, Ala. – $75,000
- Buffalo-Cheektowaga, N.Y. – $79,000
- St. Louis, Mo.-Ill. – $82,000
- Rochester, N.Y. – $87,000
- Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, Ind. – $87,000
- Louisville/Jefferson County, Ky.-Ind. – $87,000
- New Orleans-Metairie, La.- $90,000
Fear Not, Affordable Inventory is Also on the Rise
While the west coast state experienced a bit of a surge in household required income to purchase the median-priced home, in other parts of the country, affordable inventory is on the rise. The South has been largely driving the increase in availability of homes in the $200,000 to $350,000 price range, and the increase in availability of homes overall. More than half (56.6%) of available inventory in April 2024 was in the South, up from 52.0% last year and 47.7% in April 2019. A rise in homes available for purchase combined with population migration has paved the way for the South to lead the share of nationwide existing home sales, rising from 43.2% in March 2019 to 45.3% in March 2024. Across the country active inventory grew over the previous year with inventory in the South growing 43.0%, 27.4% in the West, 17.6% in the Midwest, and 4.0% in the Northeast. Interestingly, large Florida metros experienced inventory growth driven primarily by an increase in the availability of attached homes (condos, townhomes, or row homes).
Median List Price Stays Stable, but Price per Square Foot Inches its Way Up
Between March 2024 and April 2024, the U.S. median list price increased from $424,900 to $430,000, while remaining stable compared to the same median list price in April of last year. This is likely attributed to the mix of homes hitting the market particularly in the South where sellers are listing smaller and more affordable homes. While median list price has remained relatively unchanged, the median list price grew 3.8% on an adjusted per-square-foot basis indicating that homes are retaining value even as inventory grows.
Additional details and full analysis of the market inventory levels, income requirements, trends in listing prices and more can be found in the Realtor.com® April Monthly Housing Report. For buyers looking to gain more local-market insights to guide their decision making, visit realtor.com/research to access online tools and better understand ways to partner with an experienced buyer’s agent for help along the way.
SOURCE Realtor.com
