10 Cities Where Middle-Income Buyers Can Find Affordable Homes

The Takeaway: Three Ohio cities -- Youngstown, Akron, and Toledo -- have the most affordable homes in the country, according to a new study.

In the Broadway hit "Wonderful Town," two sisters ask the musical question, "why, oh, why oh, did I ever leave Ohio?"

People looking to buy a house may be singing a similar tune as locations in the Buckeye State feature prominently in a recent study of affordable homes. 

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Look, we know it's rough out there. Houses are very hard to come by in the current market.

The real estate platform Redfin said in a June 21 report that the pool of homes for sale is shrinking because homeowners feel trapped by rising mortgage rates, with new listings down 25%, to the third lowest level on record.

A shortage of homes for sale is fueling bidding wars in some areas despite sluggish homebuyer demand, Redfin said. It added that 37% of homes that sold in May went for more than the list price, a higher share than usual for this time of year.

Housing Inventory Crunch

The country's persistent housing inventory crunch is hitting middle-income buyers -- those earning up to $75,000 -- harder than any other income bracket, according to a new analysis from the National Association of Realtors and Realtor.com.

At the end of April 2023, roughly 1.1 million homes were available for sale, up five percentage points from one year ago.

And yet, NAR and Realtor.com found that the U.S. housing market is short of more than 300,000 affordable homes for middle-income buyers.

Fifty-one percent of U.S. households earn $75,000 or less, so a home priced at up to $256,000 would be affordable for them, according to NAR and Realtor.com’s calculations.

These middle-income buyers can afford to buy only 23% of listings in the current market, the report said. Five years ago, the income group could afford to buy half of all available homes.

"Middle-income buyers face the largest shortage of homes among all income groups, making it even harder for them to build wealth through homeownership," Nadia Evangelou, NAR senior economist and director of real estate research, said in a statement.

Evangelou said that a two-fold approach is needed to help with both low affordability and limited housing supply.

"It's not just about increasing supply," she said. "We must boost the number of homes at the price range that most people can afford to buy."

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Cities With Affordable Housing Markets in 2023

Location, of course, is a key factor in deciding where to buy a home.

The NAR study found that among the 100 largest metro areas, El Paso, Texas; Boise, Idaho; and Spokane, Wash. have the fewest affordable homes available for middle-income buyers.

Meanwhile, three Ohio cities -- Youngstown, Akron, and Toledo -- have the most affordable homes available for households earning up to $75,000. In fact, these markets have an oversupply of listings priced for middle-income buyers.

Here are the top 10 cities where more than half of the listed homes are considered affordable for middle-income buyers.

In a balanced market, buyers earning up to $75,000 can afford to purchase 66% of the listings in the Youngstown metro area. These buyers can currently afford to buy 72% of the listings.

Buyers in Akron earning the same amount of money can afford 51% of the listings in the Rubber City metro area in a balanced market. Right now, these same home buyers can afford to buy 58% of the listings.

In contrast, middle-income buyers in Boise City, Idaho, can afford to buy just 2% of home listings. In a balanced market, these buyers would be able to afford to buy more than 50% of the homes for sale.