We did everything on our Honey Do list! 📋 Now, where’s that big bowl of honeydew? Isn’t that why we do it, honey? 🍈💁🏻
The housing market is more out of whack than Whitney Houston with Bobby Brown. For middle-income families, the struggle is real. 🙈
Here’s Five Fast Facts on homebuying and the middle class:
- 💵 Middle Child - Households making $75,000 to $100,000 sit right in that middle-class category. Professionals in teaching, nursing, and skilled trades make up a decent chunk of this group. Based on March listings, the amount of homes for sale jumped by 20%, but it’s definitely not a level playing field.
- 🍎 How ‘Bout Them Apples? - Some states are bumping up pay for teaching jobs, but the increases are still a long way from helping. Nationwide, pay for teachers has increased by 24% over the last five years. However, the increase in available home prices has risen by 47% in that same time period.
- 🫣 Jump Scare - Compared to 2019, middle and even upper middle class homebuyers are having a way harder time now. Back then, almost half of all available homes were affordable for that income bracket. Today, only 21.2% of available homes are affordable.
- 🏡 State Your Case - Where are the biggest housing affordability gaps for middle class families? California, Hawaii, Idaho, Massachusetts, and Montana. In those states, less than 12% of available homes are affordable. In other states, things are considerably better. In Illinois, Indiana, West Virginia, Ohio, and Iowa, middle class earners could afford roughly half of the homes for sale.
- 📈 More for Less - So what’s it gonna take to solve this ginormous problem? Experts say to bring the housing market back down to reality for the middle class, it’ll take 416,000 new homes. Oh, and they’ll have to be for sale at $255,000 or less.
🔥Bottom line: Housing market this, stock market that. The only market we’re interested in is Boston Market. We could totally live on the cornbread alone. Financial stress eating you alive? Take a chill pill and bop on over to this article - it’s got five tips to ease your anxiety.
Are you shopping for a new home?
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