| The Chamber of Commerce released the list of top cities with the most "house poor" homeowners. The list contained four cities from California and Florida. The other two cities that made the list were New York and Honolulu. The Chamber of Commerce considered households spending more than 30% of their income on housing as "house poor." Along with monthly mortgage payments, other costs, such as property taxes, homeowners insurance, condominium costs, and utilities, were also added to the cost of housing. At the national level, more than a quarter of households (27.4%) of homeowners are "house poor," according to the report. The report comes at a crucial time when inflation is skyrocketing, and the total household debt increased by $394B in Q4 of 2022.
Cities from California and Florida dominated the list when it expanded to the top 30 cities. 14 cities from California and six from Florida were in the top 30 list. One in five cost-burdened households had an income of less than $75,000. The Chamber of Commerce analyzed median household income and median monthly housing costs for over 9 million households in 170 most populous cities based on the U.S. Census Bureau's survey. Between 2015 and 2019, the proportion of homeowners considered to be "house poor" dropped from 29.4% to 26.5%. Now, the percentage has increased again to reach 27.4%. Los Angeles and New York, which saw a decline in the number of cash-strapped owners during the same period, increased by around four percentage points. However, Miami saw a 2.5% decline from the 47.1% in 2019. According to the Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit for Q4 of 2022 released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's Center for Microeconomic Data, the total household debt increased by 2.4% ($394B) to reach $16.9T. In 2022, mortgage balances increased by almost $1T to reach $11.72T. In the last quarter, mortgage balances raised by $254B. Credit card balances, auto loan balances, and student loan balances increased by $61B, $28B, and $1.6B, respectively. In the report, the New York Fed expressed concerns over the ability of borrowers to repay debts owing to rising prices and interest rates. The Chamber of Commerce also released a list of cities with the most budget-minded households. The list included cities where homeowners were spending less than 20% of their income on housing expenses. Huntsville, Alabama, topped the list, with almost two-thirds of residents spending less than 20%. Huntsville was followed by Cary, North Carolina; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Raleigh, North Carolina; and Fort Wayne, Indiana. Only one city from Califonia (Fremont) and Florida (Orlando) featured in the top 50 cities with budget-minded households. Across the U.S., less than half (47%) of homeowners spent less than 20% of their income on housing. |
