Wednesday, November 13, 2024
Hawai'i Free Press

Current Articles | Archives

Tuesday, April 3, 2018
Honolulu 8th-Worst for Middle Class Homebuyers
By Selected News Articles @ 2:11 AM :: 4720 Views :: Hawaii Statistics, Cost of Living

Sky-High Prices Got You Down? Here Are the Top Middle-Class Housing Meccas

From Realtor.com, April 2, 2018 (excerpt)

…The American dream sure ain't cheap these days, or easy to achieve. Politicians may fight over middle-class voters like hyenas over a fresh kill, but all their hyperbolic campaign promises ("time to ignite America's middle-class miracle once again!") and hashtags don't seem to be making life much better for this defining chunk of the nation's population.

The Pew Research Center defines middle-class Americans as those households earning between $42,000 and $125,000 annually—although most hew closer to the $59,000 median. As a group, they face endless challenges: income stagnation, rising costs of living, ever-escalating debt loads.

And then there's perhaps the biggest pain point of all: record-high housing costs in many parts of the country. So much for the middle-class miracle.

But wait—there are still places where the middle class reigns supreme, at least when it comes to housing. And the data team at realtor.com® set out to find them. We figured out which metros have the highest share of homes on the market that are priced just right for that area's middle-income earners—and, at the other end of the spectrum, the markets that have the least housing available for this grand swatch of buyers, whether it's priced substantially above or below their needs.

Best cities for middle-class buyers

Best cities for middle-class buyers

"The bottom line here is the middle class is getting squeezed when it comes to homes,” says Robert Hughes, senior research fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research, a nonprofit that focuses on wage distribution research.

“These people don’t have steady, good-paying jobs, and they can’t get financing at that price—it can be very hard for them to buy a house," adds Peter Temin, an economics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and author of the 2017 book titled "The Vanishing Middle Class: Prejudice and Power in a Dual Economy."

"That spells trouble for them later in life: Owning a home is one way to build wealth," Temin says. "So they don't have a good way to save.They're kind of trapped.”

Worst cities for middle-class buyers

Worst cities for middle-class buyers

We identified the middle class in each of the nation's 100 largest metros by starting with the median household income for each area, looking at 40% below and 40% above that income. Then we determined what these potential buyers could afford to spend on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage with a 20% down payment and a 5% mortgage interest rate.

In their ongoing quest to lock in the best home, we're assuming that those on the lower end of the income scale would pay at least 25% of their income, while those at the top of the scale would pay no more than 28%….

read … Full Report

Links

TEXT "follow HawaiiFreePress" to 40404

Register to Vote

2aHawaii

Aloha Pregnancy Care Center

AntiPlanner

Antonio Gramsci Reading List

A Place for Women in Waipio

Ballotpedia Hawaii

Broken Trust

Build More Hawaiian Homes Working Group

Christian Homeschoolers of Hawaii

Cliff Slater's Second Opinion

DVids Hawaii

FIRE

Fix Oahu!

Frontline: The Fixers

Genetic Literacy Project

Grassroot Institute

Habele.org

Hawaii Aquarium Fish Report

Hawaii Aviation Preservation Society

Hawaii Catholic TV

Hawaii Christian Coalition

Hawaii Cigar Association

Hawaii ConCon Info

Hawaii Debt Clock

Hawaii Defense Foundation

Hawaii Family Forum

Hawaii Farmers and Ranchers United

Hawaii Farmer's Daughter

Hawaii Federation of Republican Women

Hawaii History Blog

Hawaii Jihadi Trial

Hawaii Legal News

Hawaii Legal Short-Term Rental Alliance

Hawaii Matters

Hawaii Military History

Hawaii's Partnership for Appropriate & Compassionate Care

Hawaii Public Charter School Network

Hawaii Rifle Association

Hawaii Shippers Council

Hawaii Together

HiFiCo

Hiram Fong Papers

Homeschool Legal Defense Hawaii

Honolulu Navy League

Honolulu Traffic

House Minority Blog

Imua TMT

Inouye-Kwock, NYT 1992

Inside the Nature Conservancy

Inverse Condemnation

July 4 in Hawaii

Land and Power in Hawaii

Lessons in Firearm Education

Lingle Years

Managed Care Matters -- Hawaii

MentalIllnessPolicy.org

Missile Defense Advocacy

MIS Veterans Hawaii

NAMI Hawaii

Natatorium.org

National Parents Org Hawaii

NFIB Hawaii News

NRA-ILA Hawaii

Obookiah

OHA Lies

Opt Out Today

Patients Rights Council Hawaii

Practical Policy Institute of Hawaii

Pritchett Cartoons

Pro-GMO Hawaii

RailRipoff.com

Rental by Owner Awareness Assn

Research Institute for Hawaii USA

Rick Hamada Show

RJ Rummel

School Choice in Hawaii

SenatorFong.com

Talking Tax

Tax Foundation of Hawaii

The Real Hanabusa

Time Out Honolulu

Trustee Akina KWO Columns

Waagey.org

West Maui Taxpayers Association

What Natalie Thinks

Whole Life Hawaii