The National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo reported on Tuesday that rising home prices in Washington, D.C. made houses less affordable in the second quarter. Of all new and existing homes sold in the second quarter, 73.8 percent of them were affordable to families earning the national median income of $65,000, according to the Housing Opportunity Index (HOI). This number is down from a record-high 77.5 percent of homes that were affordable to median-income earners in the first quarter.
In a statement, NAHB Chairman Barry Rutenberg said, “While interest rates and overall housing affordability remain very favorable on a historic basis, the decline in the latest HOI is a positive development because it is another signal that the housing recovery is starting to take root, and it lends needed confidence to prospective buyers and sellers who have been reluctant to move forward in the current marketplace.”
