Less than half of Houston-area residents can afford a median-priced home

HOUSTON, Texas — Climbing prices and rising interest rates have created a climate of unaffordability for potential homeowners as the minimum required income to meet expenses of a median-priced home in the Greater Houston Area rose 26.9% in the last year, according to the Houston Association of Realtors.

The minimum qualifying household income varies dramatically across the state, with Houston and San Antonio hovering around the state average of $73,200; the Dallas metro area’s minimum qualifying income is $81,200, while Austin’s metro rose to $120,400-more than $30,000 more than the previous year, according to HAR data.

“Austin has seen the largest influx of people coming from California, and what we have seen (is) those people who are coming from high-priced states are kind of importing their prices with them,” Houston Association of Realtors Chair Jennifer Wauhob said.

The median price of a home in the Houston area is about $330,000, Wauhob said, well below the median price of $375,300 across the U.S., according to the National Association of Realtors.

In the Houston area, 47% of households make the minimum income necessary to afford that median price.