The average household would need to save for 36 years to afford a typical home in LA. Here's how 50 US markets compare.

Fri, 06/28/2024 - 10:47

house sitting on a pile of money — Many potential homeowners struggle to make down payments.
John M Lund Photography Inc/Getty Images

A median-income household must make a $128,000 down payment to comfortably afford a typical US home.
It takes about 12 years to save that, rising to 36 years for a down payment in pricey Los Angeles.
We've used Zillow data to rank 50 major metro areas by the number of years of saving needed.

It would take 12 years for a median-income household to save up the nearly $128,000 down payment needed to comfortably afford a typical US home costing $360,000, Zillow estimates in an analysis that lays bare the affordability crisis.

Zillow found the typical Pittsburgh home only costs about $217,000, meaning a median-income household could take out a mortgage with zero money down and still afford the monthly payments. That was true for the median home nationally five years ago, when home prices were half as high, and mortgage rates were around 4% versus 7% today.

In contrast, the real estate marketplace said that to afford a typical San Jose home costing $1.6 million, a median-income household would have to save for over 36 years to make the $1.3 million down payment needed.

Zillow assumed that households can save 10% of their monthly income and earn a 4% yearly return. It defined an affordable monthly payment as no more than 30% of the household's monthly income.

We've ranked 50 major metro areas by the number of years of saving required for a median-income household to afford the down payment on a typical home in each. They're ordered from the fewest years to the most, and assume no down payment assistance:

50. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Typical home value: $217,285

Required down payment: $0 (0%)

Years of saving: 0

49. St. Louis, Missouri

An aerial view of downtown St. Louis, Missouri. — St. Louis, Missouri.
Art Wager/Getty Images

Typical home value: $253,559

Required down payment: $10,773 (4.2%)

Years of saving: 1.2

48. Birmingham, Alabama

Typical home value: $255,033

Required down payment: $19,406 (7.6%)

Years of saving: 2.4

47. Detroit, Michigan

Typical home value: $254,325

Required down payment: $24,132 (9.5%)

Years of saving: 2.8

46. Buffalo, New York

Typical home value: $262,616

Required down payment: N/A

Years of saving: N/A

45. Indianapolis, Indiana

Indianapolis skyline over Soliders' and Sailors' Monument at dusk. — Indianapolis, Indiana.
Sean Pavone/Shutterstock

Typical home value: $282,396

Required down payment: $27,570 (9.8%)

Years of saving: 3.1

44. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Oklahoma City Skyline, Oklahoma — Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Visions of America/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Typical home value: $235,815

Required down payment: $31,331 (13.3%)

Years of saving: 3.9

43. Cleveland, Ohio

Skyline of Cleveland, Ohio.
Getty Images

Typical home value: $230,536

Required down payment: $31,551 (13.7%)

Years of saving: 4

42. Memphis, Tennessee

Typical home value: $242,519

Required down payment: $30,852 (12.7%)

Years of saving: 4.1

41. Louisville, Kentucky

Typical home value: $258,557

Required down payment: $46,869 (18.1%)

Years of saving: 5.7

40. New Orleans, Louisiana

Typical home value: $241,940

Required down payment: $46,138 (19.1%)

Years of saving: 6

39. Cincinnati, Ohio

Typical home value: $287,721

Required down payment: $59,573 (20.7%)

Years of saving: 6.4

38. Houston, Texas

Typical home value: $310,707

Required down payment: $76,825 (24.7%)

Years of saving: 7.9

37. Kansas City, Missouri

Typical home value: $307,032

Required down payment: $76,273 (24.8%)

Years of saving: 7.9

36. Baltimore, Maryland

Typical home value: $387,914

Required down payment: $100,641 (25.9%)

Years of saving: 8.5

35. Columbus, Ohio

Aerial view of Downtown Columbus, Ohio, with Scioto River. — Columbus, Ohio.
Agnieszka Gaul/Shutterstock

Typical home value: $315,438

Required down payment: $84,215 (26.7%)

Years of saving: 8.5

34. Minneapolis, Minnesota

Typical home value: $378,924

Required down payment: $102,199 (27.0%)

Years of saving: 8.6

33. Chicago, Illinois

Typical home value: $321,897

Required down payment: $95,953 (29.8%)

Years of saving: 8.8

32. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Typical home value: $362,204

Required down payment: $103,471 (28.6%)

Years of saving: 9.2

31. Richmond, Virginia

Typical home value: $372,080

Required down payment: $105,228 (28.3%)

Years of saving: 9.6

30. San Antonio, Texas

San Antonio Texas Riverwalk — f11photo / iStock

Typical home value: $289,511

Required down payment: $92,158 (31.8%)

Years of saving: 9.7

29. Atlanta, Georgia

Typical home value: $387,471

Required down payment: $118,239 (30.5%)

Years of saving: 10.1

28. Jacksonville, Florida

Typical home value: $361,796

Required down payment: $116,974 (32.3%)

Years of saving: 10.8

27. Virginia Beach, Virginia

Typical home value: $351,095

Required down payment: $112,962 (32.2%)

Years of saving: 10.9

26. Hartford, Connecticut

Typical home value: $362,763

Required down payment: $129,585 (35.7%)

Years of saving: 11

25. Washington, DC

Typical home value: $568,862

Required down payment: $188,087 (33.1%)

Years of saving: 11.2

24. Raleigh, North Carolina

Typical home value: $449,514

Required down payment: $152,410 (33.9%)

Years of saving: 11.8

23. Dallas, Texas

Typical home value: $381,104

Required down payment: $152,586 (40.0%)

Years of saving: 12.9

22. Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Typical home value: $348,439

Required down payment: $137,086 (39.3%)

Years of saving: 13.4

21. Charlotte, North Carolina

Typical home value: $386,371

Required down payment: $149,041 (38.6%)

Years of saving: 13.7

20. Austin, Texas

Typical home value: $466,628

Required down payment: $209,333 (44.9%)

Years of saving: 14.7

19. Phoenix, Arizona

Typical home value: $461,352

Required down payment: $186,012 (40.3%)

Years of saving: 14.8

18. Tampa, Florida

Typical home value: $382,802

Required down payment: $181,195 (47.3%)

Years of saving: 16.6

17. Nashville, Tennessee

Typical home value: $446,180

Required down payment: $203,325 (45.6%)

Years of saving: 16.7

16. Orlando, Florida

Typical home value: $398,881

Required down payment: $192,553 (48.3%)

Years of saving: 17

15. Salt Lake City, Utah

Typical home value: $549,373

Required down payment: $251,131 (45.7%)

Years of saving: 17.1

14. Las Vegas, Nevada

The Las Vegas Strip at night.
randy andy/Shutterstock

Typical home value: $427,509

Required down payment: $198,306 (46.4%)

Years of saving: 17.6

13. Denver, Colorado

Typical home value: $595,649

Required down payment: $300,970 (50.5%)

Years of saving: 18.7

12. Providence, Rhode Island

providence rhode island fall — Getty/DenisTangneyJr

Typical home value: $481,911

Required down payment: $257,453 (53.4%)

Years of saving: 19

11. Portland, Oregon

Typical home value: $556,385

Required down payment: $296,427 (53.3%)

Years of saving: 19.8

10. Sacramento, California

Typical home value: $586,875

Required down payment: $337,769 (57.6%)

Years of saving: 21.7

9. Boston, Massachusetts

Typical home value: $701,349

Required down payment: $432,875 (61.7%)

Years of saving: 23.1

8. Riverside, California

Typical home value: $584,710

Required down payment: $358,926 (61.4%)

Years of saving: 23.6

7. Seattle, Washington

seattle washington winter — Checubus/Shutterstock

Typical home value: $753,414

Required down payment: $462,095 (61.3%)

Years of saving: 23.7

6. Miami, Florida

Miami Beach — Simon Dannhauer/Shutterstock

Typical home value: $490,088

Required down payment: $316,270 (64.5%)

Years of saving: 24.1

5. New York, NY

Typical home value: $657,279

Required down payment: $494,795 (75.3%)

Years of saving: 27.4

4. San Francisco, California

Typical home value: $1.18 million

Required down payment: $887,656 (75.0%)

Years of saving: 31.5

3. San Diego, California

San Diego, California cityscape at the Gaslamp Quarter.
Sean Pavone/Shutterstock

Typical home value: $958,266

Required down payment: $723,527 (75.5%)

Years of saving: 32.5

2. San Jose, California

Typical home value: $1.63 million

Required down payment: $1.32 million (80.9%)

Years of saving: 36.2

1. Los Angeles, California

Typical home value: $962,388

Required down payment: $780,203 (81.1%)

Years of saving: 36.3

United States

American flag over US money — American flag over US dollars.
STILLFX/Getty Images

Typical home value: $360,681

Required down payment: $127,743 (35.4%)

Years of saving: 12

Read the original article on Business Insider

Real Estate, trending-uk, real-estate, housing-market, affordability-crisis, home-prices, los-angeles, California, down-payment, zillow, mortgage-rates

Source

The average household would need to save for 36 years to afford a typical home …