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Only four major cities in the U.S. have starter-home prices that the average American can afford, reported CNBC’s Make It on Oct. 22.
“With homeownership costs doubling since last year, the market for starter homes has become unaffordable for most buyers in all but four major U.S. cities,” said Make It.
Those cities are Detroit, Mich., Tulsa, Okla., Memphis, Tenn., and Oklahoma City, Okla.
Make It pulled its data from a survey by Point2, a real estate website. Point2 said that starter-homes, because of costs, are the “stuff of myths” today.
For Point2’s analysis, “starter homes are those valued in the bottom third of all homes available in a given market,” reported Make It. “To measure affordability, the study follows the common personal finance rule that a mortgage payment shouldn’t exceed 30% of a homeowner’s gross monthly income.”
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The survey looked at the median price of a starter-home and renter households’ median incomes in the 50 largest U.S. cities. In only four cities did the numbers show starter-homes were affordable, which the data below reveal:
Detroit, Michigan
Median annual income: $25,004
Income needed to afford a starter home: $19,103
Median starter home price: $48,129
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Median annual income: $35,039
Income needed to afford a starter home: $29,521
Median starter home price: $95,481
Memphis, Tennessee
Median annual income: $30,093
Income needed to afford a starter home: $27,966
Median starter home price: $87,174
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Median annual income: $37,211
Income needed to afford a starter home: $37,071
Median starter home price: $126,442
Some of the cities where starter-homes are not affordable based on a renter’s income vs. income required include Los Angeles, New York, Oakland, San Jose, Miami, San Diego and San Francisco. In Los Angeles, there is a 70% gap between the renter’s income and the income required. In San Francisco, it’s a 60% gap.
(Source: Point2)
Concluding with remarks from Lawrence Yun, the chief economist at the National Association of Realtors, CNBC’s Make It reported, “The starter home market has become increasingly difficult over the past 20 years,” says Yun. This has created a “social divide” between homeowners and non-homeowners, who “simply feel like they cannot catch up.”
h/t Make It
Biden's Destroying the Economy. Is It Intentional?
(Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
Everywhere I go, people are mystified about President Joe Biden's economic agenda. So few of the policies comport with basic common sense that I'm asked the same question over and over: Is Biden intentionally trying to take a wrecking ball to the economy?
Is this all part of some diabolical plan, the "great reset," to end our system of free market capitalism and replace it with some form of big government socialism?
Biden keeps saying that he wants to be a historic president who will "transition" the country into a new worker's paradise where no one uses fossil fuels or electricity or cars and equality is paramount, ahead of growth and prosperity. Is he taking us there with no regard for the collateral damage to America?
My belief is that, no, I don't think this is an intentional, nefarious Dr. Evil-type plot.
But if this were a scheme to burn down the village in order to rebuild it, Biden and his administration are doing a great job of it.
Here are seven Biden administration steps to undermine an economy and a society from within. They will all sound familiar with the president's policies since he took office 21 months ago.
No. 1: Dismantle the nation's energy supply
We get 70% of our energy from fossil fuels. Biden has declared war on American oil and gas, making us more dependent on our enemies for our basic energy needs.
No. 2: Don't enforce the border
Biden is letting hundreds of thousands of potential criminals, terrorists, welfare recipients and enemies of the United States into our country through a porous southern border with Mexico. Immigration is good, but it must be orderly and regulated.
No. 3: Devalue the nation's currency through inflation
Inflation is up nearly 9% since Biden came into office. Inflation is a means to erode the value of a currency.
No. 4: Destroy the nation's finances by running up the debt by multiple trillions of dollars
No president in modern times has so recklessly pushed our nation into debt as rapidly as Biden through his $4 trillion in spending paid for with red ink.
No. 5: Divide rather than unite the nation
Rich versus poor, black versus white, gay versus straight, rural versus urban. Biden promised unity. Instead, he pits groups against each other. This is the identity politics of the Left that is the opposite of "e pluribus unum."
No. 6: Dumb down and indoctrinate our children with anti-American propaganda in the schools and media
And allowing teachers unions and left-wing activists to take over the curriculum with anti-American propaganda. It is the opposite of nurturing patriotism and love of country.
No. 7: Decriminalize a lot
Let criminals onto the streets. End bail. Empty the prisons. Let minor crimes go unpunished. Biden's policies favor criminals over victims. It's a scene out of a Batman movie.
Are these policies intentional or simply completely misguided? I don't know. But does it matter? Either way, our country is in grave peril.
(Stephen Moore is a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation and an economist with FreedomWorks. His latest book is "Govzilla: How the Relentless Growth of Government is Devouring our Economy.")
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