Maryland still the highest-income state
New Census numbers continue to rank Maryland No. 1 for median household income -- $68,080 from July 2006 to July 2007. Income rose 1.6 percent from the year before, accounting for inflation.
Sumathi Reddy's story today notes that Howard, Calvert and Montgomery counties are among the 10 richest in the nation, with Howard at No. 3 with $101,672.
Income rising, even slightly, should mean more people can afford to buy homes, particularly as home prices drop. But, as the story explains, inflation has since been eating into Marylanders' buying power:
Demographers and economists warned that the state and national picture that emerged in two separate surveys belies the circumstances to come. The data from 2007 do not take into account the current realities of soaring food and gas costs and a slowdown in the job market.
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Comments
Jamie - I am most interested in growth issues in Frederick County, particularly the Emmitsburg area. It has such great potential for forward- thinking, world-class, intelligent community design complete with 21st century clean energy, new jobs and economic prosperity components, and yet there seems to be resistance.
Your thoughts.
Best, R
Posted by: rebecca frailey | August 27, 2008 11:29 AM
I'm not too familiar with growth issues in Frederick County, since it's outside the Baltimore metro area. Anyone else want to weigh in?
Posted by: Jamie Smith Hopkins | August 27, 2008 1:19 PM
I think this statistics has no more meaning than an average body temperature in a hospital. Rich get richer, poor get poorer. But on average, everything is peachy.
First time home buyers (which would make a rather large percentage in this market) nowadays have virtually no chance to buy a home. Everyone wants a 20% downpayment. Where are we supposed to get 60-70K cash while inflation is eating away our savings?
And if we go with an FHA loan, we get slammed with a huge PMI, which is IMO the biggest scam of the century and must be outlawed.
Additionally, the homes got so overpriced in MD in the past few years, that prices will still have to go down significantly to reach an approachable (and sensible) levels. We still have 400K town homes - this is ridiculous.
Posted by: Jelena | August 27, 2008 2:22 PM
Very well put Jelena.
I am so leery of averages and medians. My favorite is the story about Bill Gates and an unemployed person in the same room. The average salary of the two is still a gazillion dollars.
But notwithstanding Maryland's status, a median income of $68K buys a house of $204K, assuming 20% down. The median here is way above that.
Posted by: Anon | August 27, 2008 5:56 PM
Anon, you can't assume 20% down from someone with that income.
Who do YOU know who earns $68K household income AND has $41K in cash (or stocks, hah) just sitting around so they can buy a house?
A $7500 tax credit is nice, but most don't have that much spare cash to float as a free loan to the feds waiting for April 15th to roll around...
The only way they're going to own that house today is with seller financing, rent-to-own, or some other creative financing.
Similar to the crisis 20-25 years ago, except instead of 18% interest rates, we are facing unrealistic qualification requirements and severe lack of willing money to lend...
Posted by: GP | September 2, 2008 11:00 PM