The US housing market is so expensive that incomes would have to spike 55% for it to be considered affordable, industry exec says

• The housing market is so unaffordable that only three extreme scenarios would return it to pre-pandemic affordability. 
• US incomes would have to spike 55% to consider the current market affordable, an industry executive said.
• Other scenarios would have to see home prices crash 35% or mortgage rates drop four percentage points. 

The current housing market is so expensive that one of three extreme scenarios would have to play out for it to return to pre-pandemic affordability, according to Andy Walden, ICE vice president of enterprise research.

He told CNBC in an interview this week that one of those hypotheticals would be a sharp spike in US incomes.