Housing Affordability Melts as Market Heats Up for Summer — RISMedia
By: Claudia Larsen | Published: 2025-07-11 16:33:00 | Source: www.rismedia.com
As the summer housing market is heats up, it appears that affordability melted for many homebuyers in May, according to the latest National Association of Realtors®’ (NAR) Housing Affordability Index.
NAR’s data saw the qualifying income needed to buy a home increase by 3.3% to $108,192 in May (based on a 25% qualifying ratio for monthly housing expense to gross monthly income with a 20% down payment). This is the highest qualifying income reported since July 2024’s $108,384.
This qualifying income outpaced the median family income of $105,204, which also hasn’t occurred since July 2024. In addition, monthly payments saw a slight increase from $2,182 to $2,254, while the payment as a percentage of income ratio remained at 25.7%, the highest…
