Here's the salary you have to earn to buy a home in 19 major US cities

[SirLinksALot]

SOURCE: BUSINESS INSIDER

URL: http://www.businessinsider.com/salary-to-buy-a-home-2016-6

by: Libby Kane


In the market for a home? Mortgage site HSH.com has updated its estimate of how much annual income a household would need to buy a home in major metropolitan areas in the US, according to first-quarter 2016 data.

The site highlights a few differences from last quarter:

• The Denver metro area has made a significant price surge — more so than any other analyzed

• Seattle is more affordable than the Washington DC metro area for the first time in the site's years of analysis

The site looked at median home prices from the National Association of Realtors. It took into account interest rates for common 30-year fixed-rate mortgages and property taxes and insurance costs to figure out how much money it would take to pay a median-priced home's mortgage, taxes, and insurance in each city, and how much you'd have to earn to afford it.

HSH.com emphasizes that this is only the base cost of owning a home — maintenance and other incidentals aren't included in its calculations.

The site also calculated how it would change the salary needed to buy a home if a buyer were to put 10% down instead of the recommended 20%. No matter where you are, putting down less makes things more expensive — you can visit HSH.com to see both numbers.

Salaries are listed from lowest to highest needed, and are rounded to the nearest $500.

19. San Antonio

Population: 1,409,000

Median Home Price: $195,500

Monthly Mortgage Payment: $1,096

Salary Needed to Buy: $47,000

18. Orlando

Population: 255,483

Median Home Price: $207,600

Monthly Mortgage Payment: $1,112

Salary Needed to Buy: $45,500

17. Minneapolis

Population: 407,207

Median Home Price: $222,800

Monthly Mortgage Payment: $1,154

Salary Needed to Buy: $49,500

16. Philadelphia

Population: 1,517,628

Median Home Price: $203,900

Monthly Mortgage Payment: $1,156

Salary Needed to Buy: $49,500

15. Houston

Population: 2,076,189

Median Home Price: $208,000

Monthly Mortgage Payment: $1,199

Salary Needed to Buy: $51,500

14. Baltimore

Population: 640,064

Median Home Price: $229,200

Monthly Mortgage Payment: $1,205

Salary Needed to Buy: $51,500

13. Dallas

Population: 2,518,638

Median Home Price: $210,100

Monthly Mortgage Payment: $1,209

Salary Needed to Buy: $52,000

12. Chicago

Population: 2,824,584

Median Home Price: $208,600

Monthly Mortgage Payment: $1,333

Salary Needed to Buy: $57,000



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[mirraflake]

How can you pay $1100 mortgage on $45k per year?

[HonestJohn]

How can you pay $1100 mortgage on $45k per year?

That's $13,200/year.  Roughly 28-30% of one's income would be going towards the mortgage.  That's right in line with the rule of thumb on how much of one's income should be spent (or less) on housing.

The sad thing is that I'm currently engaged in getting a custom home built... because it's the same price to buy a piece of land and get a custom home built as it is to buy a pre-built one in the area I live.  In fact, I'm finding that I can buy two acres of land *AND* the house... and it's still about $20K cheaper.  That's with appliances, solar panels, and minor landscaping.

It should look something like this:

[SirLinksALot]

How can you pay $1100 mortgage on $45k per year?

Very hard, that's why you need a WORKING COUPLE making at least that much to be able to do it.

There used to be a time when a husband's salary alone could have suffice. Those days are gone.