Housing Market Indicators Monthly Update: March 2022

Year-over year housing affordability declined. According to NAR’s homeownership affordability index (HAI), at 150.3 for 2021, the affordability of purchasing a home was down 11.5 percent from 2020 [169.9], when it had increased 6.4 percent over the previous year. The decline in homeownership affordability was driven by rising home prices which more than offset lower interest rates and higher income. HUD’s Rental Affordability Index (RAI), at 96.3 for 2021, was estimated to decline 7.5 percent from 2020 [104.0]. The inflation-adjusted, median rental price for 2021 was 5.1 percent higher than in 2020, while the typical, inflation-adjusted, income of rental households fell 2.4 percent over the same period.