WASHINGTON, Feb. 17—Nationwide housing affordability, bolstered by favorable interest rates and low house prices, closed out the year near its highest level since the series was first compiled 18 years ago, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI).
The HOI showed that 70.8% of all new and existing homes sold in the final quarter of 2009 were affordable to families earning the national median income of $64,000, slightly higher than the previous quarter and near the record-high 72.5% set during the first quarter of 2009. That’s up from 62.4% during the fourth quarter of 2008.
“Favorable mortgage rates and sliding house prices that have now started to stabilize nationally have both contributed to a record year for housing affordability in 2009,” said NAHB Chairman Bob Jones, a home builder from Bloomfield Hills, Mich. “With interest rates still hovering at low levels and the economy beginning to rebound, the federal housing tax credit will encourage even more first-time and repeat home buyers to enter the market and help further stabilize housing and the economy by creating new jobs, stimulating home sales, and reducing foreclosures.”
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