Matthew Gardner

How Much Home People Are Getting For Their Money Compared To The Past

Posted on by TMN Editor
By CHUCK GREEN Home affordability has been a popular topic for the past few years as prices rose and interest rates shot up. First-time homebuyers have complained that they need to spend more to get less than their parents did and industry leaders say they are somewhat right. Andrew Lokenauth, publisher of BeFluentInFinance.com, said that last year the median home price was $428,700 and that with a 20% down payment of $85,740, the mortgage amount would be $342,960. This would require 34.2% of the median household income of $79,900 to cover the monthly principal and interest payments, he said. Lokenauth noted that in 1950, the median home price was $7,400. With 20% down, the mortgage amount would be $5,920, requiring…

Feds Consider One More Rate Hike Despite Impacts On Housing Market

Posted on by TMN Editor
By CHUCK GREEN The housing market has been slowing down due to interest rate hikes, but that likely won’t stop officials from pushing further in their fight against inflation. And average American homebuyers and sellers will be affected by their decisions as affordability continues to be a concern nationwide. Last week, the Federal Reserve Board voted to hold interest rates steady at their monthly policy meeting, keeping the federal funds rate target range between 5.25% and 5.5%. Chairman Jerome Powell said in his remarks that despite the pause, “We are prepared to raise rates further if appropriate, and we intend to hold policy at a restrictive level until we are confident that inflation is moving down sustainably toward our objective.”…