Maine
Homeownership is getting less affordable in Maine
The dream of affording a single-family dwelling or condominium is changing into much less reachable, a brand new research launched Thursday discovered.
Homebuyers in Maine have to be ready to spend 29 to 48 % of their annual wages, relying on the county the place they stay, to deal with the mortgage and main bills for a median-priced dwelling, in keeping with the research by ATTOM, an actual property information firm. That’s in contrast with a nationwide common of 30 % of annual wages spent on dwelling prices.
It’s the newest signal that dwelling possession is changing into extra unaffordable attributable to ongoing excessive actual property costs, climbing mortgage charges and inflation.
Lenders typically prefer to see a most of 28 % of wages go towards housing bills when issuing a mortgage. Meaning homebuyers within the 5 Maine counties coated within the research — Androscoggin, Cumberland, Kennebec, Penobscot and York — on common wouldn’t qualify for mortgages.
Though extra properties are coming onto the marketplace for sale, the provision in Maine stays restricted, maintaining costs excessive. The median gross sales value for a single-family dwelling in Maine was $340,000 in August, up nearly 10 % from the earlier 12 months, in keeping with the Maine Affiliation of Realtors. On the similar time, the variety of properties bought was down nearly 10 %.
“Rates of interest have primarily doubled. Many potential homebuyers merely can’t afford the house they hoped to purchase, and in lots of instances not qualify for the mortgage they’d want,” Rick Sharga, govt vp of ATTOM, mentioned.
The research analyzed publicly recorded gross sales deed and wage information in 581 U.S. counties through the third quarter of 2022. It assumed a 20 % down cost, 28 % debt-to-income proportion and coated counties with a inhabitants of at the very least 100,000 and at the very least 50 single-family dwelling and rental gross sales within the third quarter.
With home costs outpacing wage raises, consumers in Kennebec and York counties must spend the very best proportion of their revenue to buy a house. They must pay 48 % of their revenue to afford a house in York County, the place the median gross sales value was $435,591 within the third quarter with a median revenue of $93,462. Kennebec adopted at 44 %.
Penobscot had the bottom fee at 28.8 %.
The ATTOM report mentioned that solely seven of the 581 U.S. counties included within the report, or 1 %, had been extra reasonably priced within the third quarter of this 12 months in contrast with historic averages, down from 31 % final 12 months. New York County, which incorporates Manhattan, was amongst them.
“Homeownership stays largely unaffordable for almost all of homebuyers within the majority of markets throughout the nation,” Sharga mentioned.