One in 4 middle-income new homeowners — twice as many as a decade before — are buying into cost-burdened situations.
The share of middle-class Americans who are buying wallet-squeezing homes has more than doubled in the previous 10 years.
Almost 30% of middle-class homeowners bought homes with monthly payments costing more than 30% of their income in 2022, an NBC News analysis of Census Bureau data found. That’s more than twice the share from 2013, with experts warning it leaves many households with less money for groceries and emergencies and less able to get ahead in the future.
That “cost-burdened” benchmark — in which a household devotes over 30% of income to housing costs — is a widely used measure of affordability for both homeownership and renting. The Census Bureau measures housing costs against it, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development has used it for decades.
Yeah, it sucks, but honestly, this has been happening for a long time now. Way before current president, last one, one before that, and one before that. lol
People have always bought stuff they can barely afford.
When I bought my house, I waited until I could get something that wouldn’t take up more than 30% of my after-tax income. I found a small fixer-upper in a nice neighborhood, and everyone thought I was crazy for not getting something bigger.
Now my house is paid off, and they’re still stressing over their bigger, more expensive homes. Now to be honest, my house still kind of a piece of crap. Some rooms still have 1970’s wood paneling. No granite countertops for me. But fuck that noise, now that it’s paid off, I don’t owe anyone shit.
Times are tough, no doubt, but people make mistakes whether the economy is good or bad.
The whole point is that the rate of people doing that is increasing, meaning there’s likely something driving that uptick.
Like, if you saw the murder rate jump 20% year over year, “people have always done murder” doesn’t really explain that rise, y’know?
Edit: something, not someone
I imagine the answer is that it’s still cheaper than renting in those areas.
It is the American way.