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Houston Housing Cools a Bit

HOUSTON—Houston is struggling as the energy-related sector is still trying to find its feet after a rough stretch, says Keith Gumbinger at HSH.com, with the metro moving down one spot on the HSH list.

By Lisa Brown | lisabrown | | Updated on August 31, 2016
Housing Affordability Houston home prices did not increase as much as many other metros.
HOUSTON—The housing market in the San Francisco metropolitan area followed a national trend of decreasing affordability during the second quarter, according to new data analyzed by mortgage experts at HSH.com . The latest salary analysis calculates the average yearly salary required to afford a median-priced home in 27 of the largest metropolitan areas. It’s no surprise that San Francisco dominates as the least affordable metropolitan area on the list. However, the Houston metro moved down one spot on the list, swapping places with the Philadelphia metro. Home prices in the Houston area did not increase nearly as much as many other metros on the HSH list, allowing the required salary to increase by only $883 in the second quarter. If buyers in the Houston metro put 10% down instead of 20%, the required salary increases to $59,664. In the representative analysis, the mortgage rate is 3.75%, or a quarterly change of -0.15% with a home price of $217,400, a quarterly increase of 4.52% or a year over year change of -1.67%. This would require a monthly payment of $1,219.74, necessitating a salary of $52,274.68, a quarterly change of an additional $882.63. Keith Gumbinger , vice president at HSH.com, tells GlobeSt.com: “For Dallas and Houston, it’s a bit of a ‘tale of two cities.’ From what I can glean from the data, Dallas seems to be seeing strong demand and price growth, while Houston has cooled off a bit. It’s likely that Houston is struggling a bit more as the energy-related (oil, gas) sector is still trying to find its feet after a rough stretch. It would appear that Dallas has a more diversified employment base, and that’s helping to support home prices to a greater degree, which is making things a bit more expensive at the moment. Even so, both cities remain solidly in the middle of the pack in terms of affordability, so that’s good news in a relative sense, even if buying a home in either market is still a pretty costly endeavor.”  

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