Rising interest rates and historically high home prices mean that qualifying for a mortgage in today’s red-hot real estate market requires a higher income than in years past, but the exact cost of buying a home varies drastically across the 50 largest U.S. cities. The national median home price in Q3 2022 was $398,500, requiring a monthly payment of $2,233 and a qualifying annual household income of $95,717, but in affordable metros like Pittsburgh, the median home price was a below-average $210,250, equating to a monthly payment of $1,283 and an annual income of $55,006, according to The New York Times.
On the other hand, prospective buyers in cities like San Jose, Calif., need to have a qualifying annual income of $359,127 to afford monthly payments of $8,380 for a median home price of $1,688,000.
The site reported that the most affordable of the 50 metropolitan areas, based on the lowest income requirements, was Pittsburgh, where the median home price was $210,250, requiring a monthly payment of $1,283 and an annual income of $55,006. Oklahoma City and Cleveland were just above it on the list of metropolitan areas requiring the lowest annual income to get a mortgage.
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