Mankato Real Estate

National Association of Realtors says NOW is the Time to Buy!

The NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® affordability index measures whether or not a typical family could qualify for a mortgage loan on a typical home. A typical home is defined as the national median-priced, existing single-family home as calculated by NAR. The typical family is defined as one earning the median family income as reported by the U.S. Bureau of the Census. 

A value of 100 in the Affordability Indexes column means that a family with the median income has exactly enough income to qualify for a mortgage on a median-priced home. An index above 100 signifies that family earning the median income has more than enough income to qualify for a mortgage loan on a median-priced home.  So if you look at September 2009, a family earning the median family income has 162.7% of the income necessary to qualify for a conventional loan.  The calculation assumes a down payment of 20 percent of the home price.

Looking at this most recent spreadsheet released by NAR, not only is the Housing Affordability Index very high, the interest rate is still low.

If you have any questions about this chart, or homes in the area, please contact me!

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS:  HOUSING AFFORDABILITY INDEX
		Median Priced		Median			Affordability Indexes
		Existing Single-	Mortgage	Family	Qualifying
Year		Family Home	Rate*	Income	Income**	Composite	Fixed	ARM
2006		221,900	6.58	58,407	54,288	107.6	107.1	109.6
2007		217,900	6.52	61,355	52,992	115.8	115.7	117.9
2008		196,600	6.15	62,030	45,984	134.9	134.5	140.0
2008	Sep	190,300	6.22	61,707	44,832	137.6	137.3	143.3
2008	Oct	185,700	6.23	61,579	43,824	140.5	140.5	141.6
2008	Nov	179,900	6.26	61,451	42,576	144.3	144.2	149.6
2008	Dec	175,000	5.59	61,323	38,544	159.1	N/A*	N/A*
2009	Jan	164,200	5.21	61,314	34,656	176.9	177.2	N/A*
2009	Feb	167,900	5.12	61,185	35,088	174.4	174.6	N/A*
2009	Mar	169,700	5.14	61,056	35,520	171.9	172.1	N/A*
2009	Apr	166,000	4.96	60,927	34,080	178.8	179.0	N/A*
2009	May	174,600	4.95	60,799	35,808	169.8	169.8	N/A*
2009	Jun	181,900	5.16	60,671	38,160	159.0	158.6	N/A*
2009	Jul	181,700	5.34	60,543	38,928	155.5	155.0	N/A*
2009	Aug r	177,100	5.33	60,415	37,872	159.5	158.9	N/A*
2009	Sept p	174,900	5.24	60,288	37,056	162.7	162.3	N/A*
						This	Month	Year
						Month	Ago	Ago
	Northeast	237,800	5.20	65,527	50,160	130.6	128.7	112.1
	Midwest	146,700	5.27	61,781	31,200	198.0	192.8	182.0
	South	155,600	5.22	55,555	32,880	169.0	164.0	144.1
	West	224,100	5.25	62,320	47,520	131.1	128.9	102.9
*Mortgage rates are not available
©2009 National Association of REALTORS®