Here’s What You Need To Earn To Buy A Home In Lakewood

Median home prices in more than 300 counties, including in Ocean County, are not affordable for average wage earners, according to a new report from ATTOM Data. Over the past year, median home prices in Ocean County grew but affordability approved slightly as well.

The report, which looked at home affordability for the first quarter of 2018, analyzed 446 counties and found that median home prices were not affordable for average wage earners in 304 counties, or in 68 percent of the counties.

In Ocean County, the median sales price for a home in the first quarter of 2018 was $239,000, according to ATTOM. Compared to a year ago, the median home price in Ocean County grew 6 percent, according to the report.

According to ATTOM, the annual income needed to buy a median price home in Ocean County is $74,181. An average wage earner was not qualified to buy a home in Ocean County. According to the report, based on average weekly wages from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, an average wage earner in Ocean County has an annual income of $43,173.

Ocean County had a home affordability index of 130, but was more affordable for average wage earners than its historic affordability average. Ocean County’s affordability index rose 6 percent when compared to the previous year.

ATTOM collected data from publicly recorded sales deeds and from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The affordability index is based on the percentage of average wages needed to make monthly house payments on a median-priced home with a 30-year fixed rate mortgage and a 3-percent down payment, including property taxes, home insurance and mortgage insurance. (Read the full methodology here.)

(Main image via Shutterstock)

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