With a shortage of more than four million homes across America, Realtor.com released the results of a study focused on affordability, and housing supply.
The report ranked each state based on how affordable homes for sale were and how easily they could build more for the future.
According to the study, homes in the South United States and the Midwest were “quietly emerging as housing MVPs,” and Georgia was among the top 10 for more affordable states to buy.
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Georgia’s high rank is due to the fact that it is among “just seven states” that account for over 50% of all construction permits to build homes from 2024.
In the top 10, Georgia ranked ninth. Overall, it’s one of several states that are “striking a balance between both affordability and robust homebuilding efforts,” Realtor.com reported.
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Georgia joined Texas, Florida, California, North Carolina, South Carolina and Arizona for states where homebuilding and pricing were balancing out, according to the study.
Less than 20 states can “claim their median home is affordable to their median earner based on the 30% of income rule.”
The 30% rule is focused on what’s known as cost-burden for home affordability.
Households that pay more than 30% of their monthly income on housing, whether it be rent or mortgage, are considered cost-burdened.
“The only real solution to housing affordability is to build more homes,” Damian Eales, Realtor.com CEO, said. “Some states are making progress, but too many others are stuck in a cycle of soaring housing costs and limited inventory.”
Data shared by Enterprise Community Partners, a national nonprofit, reported that more than one-third of Georgians are cost-burdened, with 28% severely cost burdened.
In Georgia, over one-third of our population rents their homes and half are cost-burdened, meaning they spend over 30 percent of their income on housing.
Here’s the full top 10 ranking for affordability and homebuilding, according to Realtor.com:
- South Carolina
- Iowa
- Texas
- Indiana
- North Carolina
- South Dakota
- Nebraska
- Arkansas
- Georgia
- Minnesota
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