A new report from Redfin says that anyone living in Seattle or Tacoma needs a salary well into six figures in order to afford a home.
In Seattle, the average monthly mortgage payment sits around $5,300, while the median sale price is nearly $788,000. To afford that, you’d need to make almost $215,000 a year.
While Tacoma is more affordable relative to its northern neighbor, it’s still not cheap. The average monthly mortgage payment there is $3,746, with a median home sale price of almost $550,000. A homebuyer would need to pull in a salary of roughly $150,000 a year in order to fit that into their budget.
Meanwhile, average monthly mortgage payments have reached an all-time high of $2,866 nationwide, a 20% increase from the previous year.
According to Redfin, “the typical American household earns about $40,000 less than the income needed to buy a median-priced home.”
For anyone looking to buy, Redfin Economics Research lead Chen Zhao recommends “thinking outside the box.”
“Consider a condo or townhouse, which are less expensive than a single-family home, and/or consider moving to a more affordable part of the country, or a more affordable suburb,” Zhao advises.
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