May 15th, 2014 3:00 PM by Leonard Silvestri
This week the NAHB and HOI index reported an increase of almost 1 percent in the rise of housing affordability. The report showed the increase over the time span of the last quarter of 2013 and the first quarter of this year. In many areas of the country families were able to afford home ownership with their current income status and the consistent improvement of the economy. Learn more about the affordability of housing in the U.S.The HOI measures the percentage of homes sold during each quarter that could be purchased by families earning the U.S. median income which during the first quarter was $63,900. The improved HOI was driven primarily by a $10,000 dip in the national median home price to $195,000. At the same time average mortgage interest rates stabilized, increasing quarter-to-quarter from 4.54 percent to 4.57 percent. Nearly two-thirds of all new and existing homes sold during the first quarter of 2014 were termed "affordable" by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI). The index rose from 64.7 in the fourth quarter of 2013 to 65.5 percent.