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Housing Affordability Index

The Housing Affordability Index measures whether or not a typical family earns enough income to qualify for a mortgage loan on a typical home at the national and regional levels based on the most recent price and income data.

Housing Affordability Index data are provided by NAR solely for use as a reference. No part of the data may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted or redistributed in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without NAR's prior written consent for those who are not members of NAR.

Note: Starting in May 2019, FHFA discontinued the release of several mortgage rates and only published an adjustable rate mortgage called PMMS+ based on Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey. With these changes, NAR will no longer release the HAI Composite Index (based on 30-year fixed rate and ARM) and will only release the HAI based on a 30-year mortgage. NAR calculates the 30-year effective fixed rate based on Freddie Mac's 30-year fixed mortgage contract rate, 30-year fixed mortgage points and fees, and a median loan value based on the NAR median price and a 20 percent down payment.

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Data

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Monthly Index

The Monthly Housing Affordability Index measures whether or not a typical family earns enough income to qualify for a mortgage loan on a typical home at the national and regional levels based on the most recent monthly price and income data.

Monthly HAI for printing (PDF: 283 KB)

*Median Family Income: NAR uses Income data from the Census Bureau American Community Survey. Census income data is not available for later than 2016. Thus, NAR projects income levels for later than 2016. Specifically, median family income estimates are based on the average of wage growth and last year’s actual income growth.

Quarterly Index

The Quarterly Housing Affordability Index measures whether or not a typical family qualifies for a mortgage loan on a typical home at the national and regional levels based on quarterly price and income data, as well as a look at affordability conditions for first time buyers.

First-time Affordability for printing (PDF: 20 KB)

Quarterly Affordability for printing (PDF: 19 KB)

Metropolitan Index

The metropolitan index shows the existing single-family home affordability index over the past four years, by metropolitan area.

Metro Affordability 2022 for printing (PDF: 70 KB)

Metro Area Affordability and Job Growth

The Housing Affordability Index (HAI) in a metropolitan area measures whether or not a typical family earns enough income to qualify for a 30-year fixed mortgage loan on a typical single-family home without spending more than 25% of the income on payment for principal and interest.

The quarterly HAI affordability ranking, released for the first time for the reference quarter of 2019 Q3, is based on the ranking of 174 metropolitan areas. The total number of metropolitan areas and the ranking can change with the addition or deletion of metropolitan areas for which NAR estimates the median price of single-family homes or with changes in the delineation of metropolitan areas released by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.

Home Affordability Index Ranking and Payroll Job Growth (PDF: 818 KB)

Historical Information

Historical data can be purchased in the REALTOR® Store.

Next Quarterly Release

The next quarterly Metropolitan Median Area Prices and Affordability and Housing Affordability Index release will be Tuesday, August 13, 2024, at 7 a.m. Eastern Time.

Next Monthly Release

NAR will release its next monthly report on housing affordability on Friday, September 13, 2024, at 10 a.m. Eastern Time.

NAR Research Data Release Dates

Questions?

If you have questions about this data, please email them to data@realtors.org.