Housing Woes
Can young adults afford to buy a home in Austin? Just barely
A new report from Bloomberg finds that millennials are being priced out of homeownership in the cities that are most attractive to young adults — including our own.
On a list that includes 50 metropolitan areas, Austin claims a bittersweet spot as the No. 16 least affordable city for millennials. The report states that young Austinites can technically afford a home, but the picture is pretty grim.
In Austin, where the median home value is $229,000, the minimum salary required to purchase a home is $31,070. And with a median income of $36,357, millennials in Austin have a surplus of $5,287.
But Bloomberg cautions that these numbers assume that young adults have saved a 20 percent down payment, which often is not the case. "That means millennials living in unaffordable markets will be forced to shell out money for ever-increasing rents, instead of building equity," Bloomberg says.
Thirteen areas have affordability gaps. In such places as San Jose, New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Seattle and Denver, the minimum salary required to purchase a home far surpasses the median millennial earnings.
Millennials will have the best luck in Detroit, Michigan; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Buffalo, New York — the three most affordable cities on the list. Austin is the least affordable city in Texas, with Houston (No. 36), Dallas-Fort Worth (No. 34), and San Antonio (No. 28) faring much better.
To see the stats on each city, check out the full Bloomberg report.