Homeownership further out of reach as costs outpace income nearly fivefold

Homeownership is becoming increasingly unaffordable as single-family home prices rise to nearly five times the median household income, according to a new Harvard University report.

The costs of homeownership are the highest they have been in 30 years, when Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies began collecting data, according to the report. Home prices have spiked by 47% since early 2020 and 115% since 2010, with the most growth occurring in the Northeast and Midwest.