More Buyers Believe Housing Affordability is Worsening

Housing Affordability
Published

Buyers’ perceptions of housing affordability have deteriorated for three straight quarters, indicating that double-digit home price hikes over the past year have more than offset the positive impact that low interest rates had over the same time period.

In the third quarter of 2021, 73% of buyers estimated they could afford less than half the homes available for sale in their markets, according to survey results from the latest NAHB Housing Trends report. That share is up from 71% the prior quarter, 65% the quarter before that, and 63% in the final quarter of 2020.

Between the second and third quarters of 2021, affordability expectations worsened in the Northeast and South, as the share of prospective buyers reporting they were able to afford less than half the homes available rose from 66% to 69% and from 75% to 76%, respectively.

When measured from the final quarter of 2020 to now, however, buyers’ perceptions of affordability have deteriorated in every region of the United States.

Rose Quint, NAHB assistant vice president for survey research, provides more analysis in this Eye on Housing blog post.

Subscribe to NAHBNow

Log in or create account to subscribe to notifications of new posts.

Log in to subscribe

Latest from NAHBNow

Economics

Sep 17, 2025

Housing Starts Remain Soft Ahead of Fed Meeting

Overall housing starts decreased 8.5% in August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.31 million units, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau.

PWB Week | Professional Women in Building Council

Sep 16, 2025

Tradeswomen Paving Their Own Way

NAHB spoke with Professional Women in Building (PWB) members Elyse Adams and Brittney Quinn about their career paths in the trades and how PWB has positively influenced their journeys.

View all

Latest Economic News

Economics

Sep 17, 2025

The Fed Cuts and Projects More Easing to Come

After a monetary policy pause that began at the start of 2025, the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy committee (FOMC) voted to reduce the short-term federal funds rate by 25 basis points at the conclusion of its September meeting. This move decreased the target federal funds rate to an upper rate of 4.25%.

Economics

Sep 17, 2025

Housing Starts Remain Soft Ahead of Fed Meeting

Challenging affordability conditions continue to act as headwinds for the housing industry, but the sector could see lower interest rates in the near future with the Federal Reserve expected to cut short-term interest rates this afternoon.

Economics

Sep 16, 2025

Builder Confidence Steady but Future Sales Expectations Hit Six-Month High

Builder sentiment levels remained unchanged in September but lower mortgage rates and expectations that the Federal Reserve will soon cut the federal funds rate led to higher future sale expectations in the coming months.