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According to a recent study completed by NAR and realtor.com there is a shortage of more than 300,000 homes in the pricing point the middle-income buyers can afford. The current housing market is short about 300,000 homes in the listing price range up to 256K which according to Housing Affordability & Supply report is considered the affordability range.

Since there is a shortage of homes in the typical middle-income buyer’s price range, buyers are finding homes often in a multiple offer situation which was common last year. Due to this it is even hard for buyers to build wealth through homeownership.

Despite the lower inventory currently the inventory has risen as compared to the same period a year ago and up almost 5% according to NAR. Due to the current inventory on average, there are only about 38% of households with an annual income of 100K that can afford to buy a home as compared to a balanced market 63% of households are able to afford a home.

Areas in the United States that are seeing middle-income buyers struggle the most are El Paso, Tx with only 16% of households being able to afford a home with an annual income of 75K or less. Next is Boise City, ID at 2%, then Spokane, Wa at 8%, Riverside, CA at 4% and Los Angeles, CA at 1%. In comparison there are areas that have a higher-than-average affordable listings for households earning less than 75K. Top five cities are Youngstown OH-PA at 72%, Akron, OH at 61%, Toledo, OK at 61%, Cleveland, OH at 59% and Syracuse, NY at 54%.

Source: https://www.nar.realtor/magazine/real-estate-news/study-middle-income-buyers-suffer-most-in-housing-shortage