Home watch: Priciest and cheapest time zones

By HOLDEN LEWIS

NerdWallet

Cities in the Pacific time zone have the least-affordable housing in the country, and the Central time zone has the most-affordable housing.

Each quarter, NerdWallet calculates the home affordability for 178 metropolitan areas, matching the list of metros for which the National Association of Realtors publishes median home prices. This quarter, NerdWallet sorted the metro areas by time zone, highlighting differences in affordability.

NerdWallet compared median household incomes and median home prices, assuming a 20 percent down payment. A place with high incomes and low home prices is more affordable for buying a home than an area with low incomes and high home prices.

Here are the most and least affordable metro areas in each time zone of the contiguous U.S. in the fourth quarter of 2018, compiled using data from the National Association of Realtors, the U.S. Census Bureau and NerdWallet surveys. (Honolulu, two time zones farther west, has the second-least-affordable homes in the country. NAR’s quarterly price survey doesn’t include cities in Alaska.)

PACIFIC TIME ZONE

Most affordable: Kennewick-Richland, Wash.

Median home price: $278,400 (national median price: $257,600)

Median household income: $63,617

Principal and interest payment: $1,183 (22.3 percent of median monthly income)

In Kennewick-Richland, a median-income household buying a median-priced house and putting 20 percent down pays 22.3 percent of that income on the mortgage’s principal and interest.

Least affordable: San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif.

Median home price: $1.25 million

Median household income: $117,474

Principal and interest payment: $5,313 (54.3 percent of monthly income)

A buyer of a typical home here would get a $1 million mortgage after a 20 percent down payment.

MOUNTAIN TIME ZONE

Most affordable: El Paso, Texas

Median home price: $157,900

Median household income: $44,416

Principal and interest payment: $671 (18.1 percent of monthly income)

El Paso is so far west that it’s in the Mountain zone. The median household income is modest, but so are home prices.

Least affordable: Boulder, Colo.

Median home price: $592,300

Median household income: $80,834

Principal and interest payment: $2,518 (37.4 percent of monthly income)

City leaders have been searching for ways to make housing affordable for middle-income households.

CENTRAL TIME ZONE

Most affordable: Decatur, Ill.

Median home price: $89,300

Median household income: $51,970

Principal and interest payment: $380 (8.8 percent of monthly income)

This city had the lowest median house price among the 178 metro areas that NAR tracks.

Least affordable: Shreveport-Bossier City, La.

Median home price: $170,100

Median household income: $38,627

Principal and interest payment: $723 (22.5 percent of monthly income)

A typical home costs about $87,000 less than the median home in the United States. But the median household income is low, too, making it difficult to afford a house.

EASTERN TIME ZONE

Most Affordable: Youngstown-Warren-Boardman

Median home price: $97,200

Median household income: $45,382

Principal and interest payment: $413 (10.9 percent of monthly income)

The Youngstown metro area had the second-lowest prices tracked by NAR.

Least affordable: Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island, Fla.

Median home price: $432,800

Median household income: $66,048

Principal and interest payment: $1,840 (33.4 percent of monthly income)

This metro area had the second-highest income inequality in the U.S. in 2015, according to a 2018 Economic Policy Institute report. Collier County voters approved the county’s first-ever sales tax in November, which earmarks some money for workforce housing.