Affordability

Optimal Blue today released its October 2024 Market Advantage mortgage data report, highlighting resilient purchase activity in the face of rising interest rates and affordability challenges.

Homebuyer affordability improved in September, with the national median payment applied for by purchase applicants decreasing to $2,041 from $2,057 in August. This is according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Purchase Applications Payment Index (PAPI), which measures how new monthly mortgage payments vary across time – relative to income – using data from MBA’s Weekly Applications Survey (WAS). 

ATTOM released its third-quarter 2024 U.S. Home Affordability Report showing that median-priced single-family homes and condos remain less affordable in the third quarter of 2024 compared to historical averages in 99 percent of counties around the nation with sufficient data to analyze. The latest trend continues a pattern, dating back to early 2022, of home ownership requiring historically large portions of wages as U.S. home prices keep reaching new highs.

ATTOM released its second-quarter 2024 U.S. Home Affordability Report showing that median-priced single-family homes and condos remained less affordable in the second quarter of 2024 compared to historical averages in 99 percent of counties around the nation with enough data to analyze. The latest trend continued a pattern, dating back to early 2022, of home ownership requiring historically large portions of wages around the country amid ongoing high residential mortgage rates and elevated home prices.

Homebuyer affordability improved in May, with the national median payment applied for by purchase applicants decreasing to $2,219 from $2,256 in April.

Homebuyer affordability declined in April, with the national median payment applied for by purchase applicants increasing to $2,256 from $2,201 in March. This is according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Purchase Applications Payment Index (PAPI), which measures how new monthly mortgage payments vary across time – relative to income – using data from MBA’s Weekly Applications Survey (WAS).