Business
Affordability Is Improving: Buyers Must Earn $111,000 to Afford the Typical Home, Down 4% From Last Year
SEATTLE, February 11, 2026--Americans need to earn $111,252 per year to afford the typical U.S. home for sale, down 4% from $115,870 a year ago. That’s according to a new report from Redfin, the real estate brokerage powered by Rocket.
About this update from Rocket Companies, Inc.
[{"type":"list","items":[{"val":[{"type":"text","content":"Redfin reports that after five years of home affordability generally worsening, it’s improving in 37 of the 50 most populous U.S. metro areas.","length":142,"tagName":"p","attribs":{}}]},{"val":[{"type":"text","content":"It’s improving fastest in Dallas, where the income needed to buy a home has dropped 7.4% year over year.","length":104,"tagName":"p","attribs":{}}]}],"tagName":"ul","bulletedList":true,"length":246,"olType":false},{"type":"text","content":"SEATTLE, February 11, 2026--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Americans need to earn $111,252 per year to afford the typical U.S. home for sale, down 4% from $115,870 a year ago. That’s according to a new report from Redfin, the real estate brokerage powered by Rocket.","length":252,"tagName":"p"},{"type":"text","content":"The income needed to buy a home has been declining since November, providing some much-needed relief for U.S. homebuyers. Before that, the income needed to afford a home had been rising on a year-over-year basis nearly every month for five years straight, since the pandemic homebuying boom drove up home-sale prices. The income needed to buy a home peaked at over $122,000 this past June.","length":389,"tagName":"p"},{"type":"text","content":"Redfin considers a home affordable if a buyer taking out a mortgage spends no more than 30% of their income on their monthly housing payment. This is based on a Redfin analysis of median home sale prices, along with prevailing mortgage rates and property-tax payments. This report focuses on December 2025—the most recent period for which data is available—and comparable periods in past years.","length":394,"tagName":"p"},{"type":"text","content":"Homebuying affordability is improving in 37 of the 50 most populous U.S. metro areas. Affordability has improved most in Dallas, Sacramento, CA and Jacksonville, FL.","length":165,"tagName":"p"},{"type":"text","content":"Affordability is improving nationwide because monthly housing costs are lower than they were a year ago. The median home-sale price is $426,747, just slightly higher than last year, but average mortgage rates are sitting around 6.1%, down from nearly 7% last year. That makes the median monthly mortgage payment around $2,675, down from roughly $2,800 a year ago.","length":363,"tagName":"p"},{"type":"text","content":"That has pushed the annual income ...