Slightly lower interest rates and home prices in markets across the country contributed to a slight increase in nationwide housing affordability in the fourth quarter of 2014, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI).  In all, 62.8 percent of new and existing homes sold between the beginning of October and end of December were affordable to families earning the U.S. median income of $63,900.   The HOI in the third quarter was 61.8 percent.

The national median home price declined from $220,800 in the third quarter to $215,000 in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, average mortgage interest rates decreased from 4.35 percent to 4.29 percent in the same period.

Syracuse, N.Y. claimed the title of the nation’s most affordable major housing market, as 92.8 percent of all new and existing homes sold in the fourth quarter of 2014 were affordable to families earning the area’s median income of $67,700.

Cumberland, Md.-W.Va. topped the affordability chart among smaller markets in the final quarter of 2014. There, 96.2 percent of homes sold during the fourth quarter were affordable to families earning the area’s median income of $54,100.

For a ninth consecutive quarter, San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, Calif. was the nation’s least affordable major housing market. There, just 11.1 percent of homes sold in the fourth quarter were affordable to families earning the area’s median income of $100,400.

All five least affordable small housing markets were in California. At the very bottom was Napa, where 12 percent of all new and existing homes sold were affordable to families earning the area’s median income of $70,300.

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http://eyeonhousing.org/2015/02/