2009 - The Year the Housing Affordability Index (HAI) Exploded

The HAI measure the relationship between median family income, median home price and mortgage affordability.

Beginning 2009 (February) it has jumped to an all time high of 173.5 and is the highest level of housing affordability since 1971.

To interpret this index, a value of 100 means that a family with the median income has exactly enough income to qualify for a mortgage on a median-priced home.

From Dr. Mark J. Perry (Professor Mark J. Perry's Blog for Economics and Finance):

The record-high housing affordability will play an important role in the real estate market's recovery, and should be considered very positive news. This key real estate market statistic frequently gets overlooked by the media, which often seems more interested in reporting "record high jobless claims/employment losses/______ fill in the blank" when it's negative news, than reporting record high statistics like housing affordability when it's good news.

We will be following closely the Housing Affordability Index and report on it at the next release. To get more facts about New Jersey real estate, click here.

Cathy Chaudemanche-