RISING HOME PRICES - Homes have increasingly become unaffordable for middle-income earners as wages have not kept pace with rising home prices. And one state with hot real estate markets is Texas as more people have relocated to the Lone Star State than any other in the past year. According to the Texas Realtors Association, the median home price in Texas reached $325,000 in the first quarter /2022, an increase of 18.6% for the same time last year. Texas A&M researcher Clare Losey says affordability took an even bigger hit this year as rising mortgage rates have made homebuying more expensive.
"If we're considering the same priced home as the mortgage interest rate increases, the total monthly mortgage payment increases,” Losey explained. “Which means that a household actually needs to earn more money to qualify for a mortgage loan for that same priced home."
Overall, though, homes in Texas are still more affordable than in a lot of other big states like California or Florida. But if current trends hold...that may not always be the case. During the first quarter of this year – nearly half the homes sold in Texas were in the $200,000 to $399,000 range. Hottest Texas markets were Dallas-Ft Worth, Austin, San Antonio, and Houston.
