Stateline
High interest rates and high prices in a still-competitive housing market continue to make it tough for first-time buyers, even those with good but moderate incomes.
On a national level, households making $75,000 to $100,000 — typical of teachers, nurses and skilled trades workers in many states — face a daunting lack of homes they can afford. That’s according to new research by the National Association of REALTORS® and Realtor.com® based on listings in March of this year compared with 2024. However, the numbers showed an encouraging 20% increase in homes for sale, affordable or not.
Despite more houses for sale, those moderate-income buyers — which the report called "middle- and upper-middle-income buyers" — are much more hard-pressed to find an affordable home than they were in 2019, when almost half the homes on the market were affordable to them. This year they can afford only 21.2% of homes on the market — a slight improvement compared with 20.8% in 2024, according to the report.
It also found that a few states are improving in affordability for people in the $75,000-to-$100,000 income range. But many states are not.
Nationwide, to get home markets back in line with moderate-income families, the United States needs 416,000 more homes for sale at or below $255,000, according to the report.
"In many places, we're still seeing a huge mismatch between income levels and what’s available to buy for moderate-income families," said Nadia Evangelou, the National Association of REALTORS®' senior economist and director of real estate research.
"We are no longer in crisis mode, but we are still very far from where we need to be. We can't fix it overnight. It will take years," Evangelou said.