While things are still looking dim in 2024, the numbers for home affordability were abysmal in 2023. Redfin analysis (from December '23) proves that all the jokes about young people, namely millennials and zoomers, not being able to afford homes have more more truth to them than fiction. Thanks to stagnating wages, inflation, high interest rates, student loans and more, the dream of home ownership is becoming more distant by the day for many.

Redfin considered an affordable listing where the monthly mortgage was less than one-third of the county's median household income. After analyzing MLS data and county-level Census ACS data on median household incomes, here's what Redfin's report says about the decline of housing affordability in America.

Key Findings

• Less than one in five (15.5 percent) of home listings were considered affordable for the typical household in 2023 — a record low. It's a decrease from 20.7 percent in 2022, and was over 40 percent in multiple years prior to 2020.

• White households (21.6 percent) had three times more affordable options than Black households (6.9 percent).

• Year-over-year, there's been an estimated $250 increase in mortgage payments because of increased interest rates.

• Between 2022 and 2023, affordable listings in cities like Oxnard (CA), Colorado Springs (CO), Tuscon (AZ) and Greenville (SC) have shrunk at a much faster rate compared to cities like Detroit (MI), Memphis (TN), Dallas (TX) and St. Louis (MO).

Click to enlarge image

Via Visual Capitalist and Redfin.