Houston On Most Affordable Home Markets List

An article I found about the Houston Market...

April 25th, 2008 categories: Houston, Houston Real Estate, Real Estate News


Bizjournals recently conducted a study comparing real estate costs to income levels in the 50 largest metro areas in the United States. They did this by comparing median home payments alongside household income levels. The results showed that California is (not surprisingly) the most expensive place to try and own a home with the median California homeowner spending over 75% of their monthly income on their mortgage payments. That was not a typo… I said 75%! According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, home costs should not add up to more than one third of monthly income so other life necessities can be purchased… clothes, food, etc.

Lucky for us, Houston was in the Top 10 list for the most affordable home markets in the U.S. Good news for Houston! We came in at number 8 on the list. Not too shabby for this so called “market crisis” the media is painting for us.
While other parts of the country are definitely hurting, our market here in Houston along with others (mostly in the South) are actually enjoying price appreciation along with income growth which makes for a solid real estate market. According to Lawrence Yun, the National Association of Realtors’ chief economist, “The healthiest housing markets today generally are moderately priced and are experiencing job growth and often population growth, which in turn is supporting strong price growth.”

The moral of this story is that Houstonites can rest easy because our housing market is continuing to hold strong. I believe this quote summed it up best for me… “If the news predicted a snow storm in Denver, would you walk outside with your snow boots in Houston?”

10 Most Affordable Home Markets
1. Oklahoma City
2. San Antonio
3. Birmingham
4. Indianapolis
5. Pittsburgh
6. Kansas City
7. Buffalo
8. HOUSTON
9. Memphis
10. Rochester, NY

10 Most Expensive Home Markets
1. Los Angeles
2. San Francisco - Oakland
3. San Diego
4. San Jose
5. New York City
6. Sacramento
7. Riverside - San Bernardino, CA
8. Miami - Fort Lauderdale
9. Boston
10. Providence