SmartAsset ran the numbers on the size of down payments necessary to buy a median-priced home against median salaries in 15 markets to reveal how long a prospective home owner would need to save. In San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York City, that would be almost 10 years.
To boot, even if these aspiring home owners manage to save enough for a down payment, they may not be able to keep up with the mortgage and taxes needed to sustain the place. In New York City, for example, SmartAsset calcuated that an average household which makes a down payment of $98,000 would have a mortgage balance of $395,000, which would cost about $2,700 after factoring in real estate taxes. Assuming the median household brings in a pre-tax monthly income of $4,400, on average, that would amount to 61% of the pre-tax income.
Here’s the SmartAsset list:
