From GlobeNewswire: 2025-05-15 09:00:00

The U.S. housing market still needs 367,000 more home listings at a maximum price of $170,000, 416,000 more priced at or below $255,000, and 364,000 more priced under $340,000. Montana, Idaho, California, Massachusetts, and Hawaii have the largest shortfalls in affordable housing. U.S. households earning $75,000 a year can only afford 21.2% of home listings as of March 2025. For-sale housing inventory increased nearly 20% nationwide in March 2025 from one year earlier. Higher-income households have near-total access to the housing market, with home buyers earning $250,000 or more able to afford at least 80% of home listings.

30% of the 100 largest metropolitan areas are classified as “Areas Getting Closer to Balance,” where the availability of affordable homes improved significantly over the past year. Akron, Ohio; St. Louis, Mo.; Youngstown, Ohio; and Pittsburgh, Pa. exhibit housing conditions that closely align with healthy supply benchmarks. Seattle, Wash. and Washington, D.C. experienced moderate increases in the share of affordable homes over the past year. Austin, Texas; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Denver, Colo., made substantial progress in boosting the share of affordable listings by an average of 20 percentage points. San Francisco, Calif. has seen significant improvement, with the supply of affordable listings surpassing pre-pandemic levels. The housing market is showing signs of improvement, with current for-sale home listings aligning better with home buyers’ incomes compared to pre-COVID-19 levels. However, 26% of the largest metro areas are still falling further behind in housing affordability, widening the gap from a balanced market. Areas like Los Angeles, Oxnard, and New York continue to face severe shortages of affordable listings. States like Iowa and Ohio lead in offering balanced housing market conditions, while others like Montana and California still need more affordable inventory. Some states, like Delaware and Utah, have shown significant year-over-year gains in housing affordability. The District of Columbia is the only area that has improved affordability compared to pre-pandemic levels.



Read more at GlobeNewswire: America’s Housing Affordability Gap Persists: Households