Housing affordability is so tight that US teachers’ pay would have to nearly double to buy a typical home

In fact, teachers’ pay would have to nearly double for them to afford a typical US home. Given the level of selflessness teachers devote to their students, they continue to be grossly underpaid. The average U.S. teacher salary is just over $64,000, but Americans need to earn an annual income of more than $113,000 to afford a median home, according to a Redfin report released this spring. And there’s no sign those numbers are going down anytime soon: The median monthly mortgage payment is up 90 percent over pre-pandemic levels, according to Redfin.

In addition, teachers can only afford 14 percent of housing within commuting distance of their school, according to a new Redfin report released Wednesday.

“Both the costs of renting and buying are near record levels, but affordability is more strained in the sales market as prices rise relatively quickly, mortgage rates remain high and the shortage of available properties is more severe,” Redfin. the economists wrote.

Many teachers shared on TikTok the same sentiment that the housing market is tight, both in terms of price and availability. One teacher called the home buying process “a bit awkward, very embarrassing and completely humiliating”.

“I got the call that I can’t get the house. I didn’t qualify,” said TikTok user @ms.guy, who has over 160,000 followers and over 10 million likes on her posts. “Final update on the home buying process: it’s over. Trying to find a place to live as soon as possible process: ongoing. “(I will) only rent because buying a house is not for Ms. Guy right now.”

Why is it so hard for teachers to buy a house?

The key to the housing affordability problem is that teacher salaries are not increasing enough to keep up with the rising cost of buying a home. Other public workers, including police officers and firefighters, also struggle to buy a home, said Jesse Saginor, associate professor of real estate development at the University of Maryland School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. wealth.

“In general, wages haven’t kept up with the cost of housing, and the big coastal metros have had much faster home value growth,” Saginor said. “For example, the median home value in Palm Beach County, Florida is $493,662, almost half a million dollars. The average teacher salary (there) is $42,473. The problem is the general lack of affordable housing.”

And Saginor expects the teachers’ situation to continue to worsen.

“The typical teacher salary has not kept up with the cost of housing,” Saginor said. “Areas that may have the highest demand for teachers may also have an influx of population, which would also increase demand for housing and, assuming supply lags behind demand, would continue to make housing more expensive .”

However, some home builders and real estate developers have taken the issue to heart and are starting to build homes at lower prices. One example is Denver-based Challenger Homes, which has move-in-ready new construction homes priced up to $370,000. By comparison, the median sales price of new homes sold in June was $487,200, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Challenger Homes also offers a program called Hometown Hero Homebuyer Benefits, which includes a $2,500 credit available to teachers, firefighters, law enforcement officers, doctors and nurses that can be used toward new home design or a price discount this one.

Challenger Homes’ programming allows buyers in the “missing middle” or “those who don’t qualify for low-income housing but might struggle with the cost of market-rate homes,” Matthew Rankin, vice president of operations at Challenger Homes, said wealth.

Still, Rankin doesn’t expect change overnight.

“Teacher housing affordability is likely to remain a significant short-term challenge,” Rankin said. “However, it will be interesting to see whether a potential rate cut in September could help lower interest rates, making mortgage payments more affordable. While this could ease the financial burden for some, it could also increase competition between buyers, further complicating the housing market.”

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