
A new report from HSH.com looked at recent home-buying costs in America’s 50 largest metropolitan areas, offering a minimum annual income needed to buy a median-priced home in each area based on current prices, 30-year-fixed mortgage rates and insurance costs.
Michael Kolomatsky presented some of the findings for The New York Times. San Jose had the highest required salary at $262,116, followed by other California markets--those in San Francisco will need to make $181,777, San Diego residents need to bring in $121,703, and you'll need to make $110,053 in Los Angeles. Seattle also topped the list at $98,679.
San Jose, Calif., the most expensive area, also had the greatest median price increase. The median home there cost $1.373 million, up about 28 percent, and required a salary of $262,116. (New York City, the seventh-priciest area, required a salary of $97,565.)
Meanwhile, more affordable homes could be found in Louisville, Ky., with a $38,576 salary, Memphis ($37,795), Oklahoma City ($37,036), Cleveland ($35,562), and Pittsburgh ($34,555).
Philadelphia was the only major metropolitan area in the country that became more affordable during the past year. (And even that might be more of a glitch in the calculations than a trend, the report noted.) The median home price there was down 5.79 percent, to $196,900, requiring annual earnings of $50,960 to qualify to buy.
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