The Real Estate Wonk: Affordability - Baltimore homes, apartments, real estate: Buying, selling, renting and housing news from reporter Jamie Smith Hopkins

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October 18, 2007

Affordability

Here's another way to look at housing affordability -- the Maryland Association of Realtors' first-time homebuyer index, a calculation that uses the income a first-time buyer is likely to have (rather than the average wage overall) and the price of a starter home. The most recent index is for the second quarter, April through June.

First-time buyers had just under half the income they'd need to purchase a typical starter home, according to the index.

Thanks, Kevin of the Baltimore Housing Bubble blog, for pointing it out. Last I checked, it hadn't been updated for months.

Posted by Jamie Smith Hopkins at 2:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Number-crunching

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About Jamie Smith Hopkins

Jamie Smith Hopkins, a Baltimore Sun reporter since 1999, writes about the regional economy. Her reporting on the housing market has won national and local awards. Hopkins is a Columbia native and has lived in Maryland all her life, save for 10 months spent covering schools in Ames, Iowa.
She trained to become a wonk by spending large chunks of time as a geek and an insufferable know-it-all.
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