How Much More Buyers Are Paying for a Mortgage | Realtor Magazine
Higher mortgage rates and rising home prices are making housing more expensive for homeowners this year compared to last year. In San Jose, Calif., for example, the average homeowner is paying $500 more for monthly mortgage payments than a year ago, jumping from $4,100 to $4,600, according to a new analysis by Bloomberg.
In nearly one-third of metro areas, buyers paid an average $50 hike in monthly mortgage payments in the first quarter of the year. The cities seeing the fastest increases in mortgage payments, according to the Bloomberg study, are:
- San Francisco
- Seattle
- Portland, Ore.
- Jacksonville, Fla.
- Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, Conn.
Renters are facing steep hikes in costs, too. Researchers found that more than 10 percent of all metro areas analyzed saw rents rising faster than inflation. Eight of the top 20 priciest markets are in California, with San Jose, San Francisco, and Los Angeles making the top three.
“By many metrics, the U.S. housing market in 2018 is on sound footing,” says Chris Herbert, managing director of the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies. But “in many respects, the situation has worsened for both the lowest-income Americans and those higher up the income ladder.”
In the first three months of 2018, home and rental prices in more than one-fifth of metro areas took more than 30 percent of a household’s income. In nine metro areas, aggregate housing costs comprised 50 percent of income (eight of which were located in California).