For years, real estate agents followed a simple rule: a house should cost about two and a half times your annual income.
But across the nation and especially in the Triangle, that guidance is no longer close to matching reality. Still-rising house prices (and home insurance premiums) are crushing many would-be homeowners’ dreams.
In Raleigh, the median home price is now $441,461, up 55.8% in just five years, while the median income is only $75,424. This creates a price-to-income ratio of 5.8—more than double what’s traditionally considered affordable.
Durham is in a similar situation with a ratio of 5.2, and Cary, though better at 4.7, still reflects the nation’s growing affordability crisis.
Across North Carolina, the median home price is $382,900, while incomes haven’t kept pace, leading to a statewide ratio of 5.07. In cities like Asheville, where the ratio is 7.2, the crisis is even more pronounced.
Rising home prices and lagging incomes are pushing many first-time buyers to townhouses, condos, or homes in smaller bedroom towns like Zebulon, Knightdale, and Pittsboro.