As home prices and mortgage rates rise faster than household incomes, Americans are finding it harder to purchase a home. 
Fewer median-income families can buy a median-priced home in all of the top 25 U.S. housing markets this year compared to last year, according to a new report by Interest.com.
A median-income household can afford a median-priced home in just 8 of those 25 markets this year, compared to 14 markets last year.
“The simple fact is that the very small improvement Americans have seen in their paychecks hasn’t kept pace with a jump in home prices and mortgage rates,” Mike Sante, managing editor of Interest.com, said in a statement.
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Home prices rose an average of 16 percent last year in the top 25 cities, while incomes increased only 3 percent. Meanwhile, the average 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage went from 3.7 percent to 4.43 percent, adding about $85 per month to a $200,000 mortgage.
The most affordable market is Atlanta, according to the report, where the median-income exceeds the amount required to purchase a median-priced home by 25 percent. The least affordable market is San Francisco, where the median-income falls 48 percent short of being able to afford a median-priced home.
(The report assumed a 20-percent down payment, and considered a home affordable if mortgage payments, property taxes and insurance comprised no more than 28 percent of monthly income; those items plus other debt make up no more than 36 percent of monthly income.)
