Housing Opportunity Index

The National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo have released the Housing Opportunity Index for the fourth quarter of 2008. The HOI measures the percent of houses sold in each of 222 cities that were affordable to a family earning the median income. The index assumes the family will spend 28% of their gross income on their house payment.

The median income in Tucson was $55,000 and the median house sale price was $170,000, according to this study. This makes 64.1% of our houses affordable to the average family. We ranked 132 in affordability nationally.

Lots of other data are available at this site. It's interesting to see how interest rates affect affordability. Obviously, with interest rates currently at historic lows, a family's home buying dollars will stretch a lot further today than they will when interest rates go back up to more normal levels.