Recently, there was an analysis published in the Wall Street Journal based on data from the Atlanta branch of the U.S. Federal Reserve, which detailed the median household income in the United States against the income required to purchase a median-priced home and have all housing-related expenses (homeowners association dues, strata fees, insurance, property taxes etc.) equal 30% of household income.
It concluded that it now takes a median household income of $124,674 per year to afford a median-priced home under the conditions set out, which is 45% more than the median U.S. household currently makes.
As the chart below illustrates, it wasn’t always like this; for the longest time following the U.S. housing crash in 2009, a household on the median household income could afford to buy the median home.
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