Housing affordability allows some "green" workers to buy, not most community workers

More "green house" news

To determine home buying affordability, the Center for Housing Policy considered the income required to qualify for a mortgage for a given area's median priced home. Assuming a 90 percent loan-to-value (10 percent down), monthly payments, at no more than 28 percent of household income, were calculated to include loan principal and interest as well as private mortgage insurance, estimated taxes and homeowners insurance.

by Broderick Perkins
© 2010 DeadlineNews.Com



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Deadline Newsroom - Some Americans who find employment refuge in certain areas of the nation's emerging "green" economy can often afford to buy a home, but most rank and file community workers still can't benefit from lower home prices and cheaper financing.

The Center for Housing Policy's "Paycheck to Paycheck: Wages and the Cost of Housing in America" found the income needed to purchase a median-priced home dropped in 93 percent in 208 markets studied, but among 65 types of workers, many still do not earn enough to own a home.

Mortgage rates remain relatively low and home prices in some markets have plummeted from 30 to 50 percent from the peak, but consumers simply aren't buying homes largely because they just can't afford to.

For some who can afford homes, tight credit and stiff underwriting rules close the door on their efforts.

To determine home buying affordability, the center considered the income required to qualify for a mortgage for a given area's median priced home.

Assuming a 90 percent loan-to-value (10 percent down), monthly payments, at no more than 28 percent of household income, were calculated to include loan principal and interest as well as private mortgage insurance, estimated taxes and homeowners insurance.

Full story here: "Housing affordability allows some "green" workers to buy, not most community workers"

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Broderick Perkins, an award-winning consumer journalist, parlayed 30 years of old-school journalism into a digital real estate news service, the San Jose, CA-based DeadlineNews Group, including DeadlineNews.Com, a real estate news and consulting service and Web site, and the Deadline Newsroom, DeadlineNews.Com's news back shop.

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