John Varano

Affordability is the number one concern of prospective home buyers. Sure, there are a lot of things on a buyer's mind when they begin looking for a home to purchase but things like the number of bedrooms in a house or the size of the kitchen don't really matter if you can't afford to buy it. Well, according to new numbers from the National Association of Home Builders, during the first quarter of this year, the number of affordable homes available to buy rose from the end of last year. Specifically, 60.3 percent of new and existing homes sold were within the reach of a family earning the median U.S. income of $68,800. Robert Dietz, NAHB's chief economist, said there are a couple of reasons for the improvement. “Ongoing job growth continues to fuel demand for housing, while wage growth is helping to offset the effects of rising mortgage rates and keeping home prices affordable,” Dietz said. Home prices, obviously, are a big part of this equation. And, though they've been on the rise for some time now, according to the report, they fell during the first quarter of 2017. In fact, the national median home price was $245,000, which is down from $250,000 at the end of last year.