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Trends in housing affordability <br />House prices declined since the height of the housing bubble. Between <br />October 2005 and March 2010, the median house price decreased by 26 <br />percent. The price declines were about 50% greater than price declines at <br />the high end of the housing market. The median home sales price dropped <br />from 4.7 times the median household income in 2005 to 3.4 times median <br />household income in 2009. <br />Figure 9 shows a comparison of monthly housing costs for mortgage <br />payments and gross rent, in 2011 dollars. For the first time since the early <br />1970's, monthly housing costs for mortgages on the typical home are less <br />costly than the average rental unit. <br />Figure 9. Monthly housing costs for mortgage payment and gross rent costs, 2011 <br />dollars <br />2,000 <br />1.750 <br />1,500 <br />1.250 —_... _...——...... .._ <br />1.000 —....._ ......—........ <br />750 _... _._.. <br />500— <br />n <br />• Mortgage Payment 0 Gross Rent <br />Source: State of the Nation's Housing, 2012. The Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, p. 4. <br />hftp://www.jchs.harvard.edu/research/state—nations—housing. <br />Despite widespread falling house prices, affordability problems have not <br />improved significantly. A median -priced single-family home under <br />conventional terms in 2007 (10% down payment and 30 -year fixed rate <br />loan) only costs $76 per month and $1,000 down payment less than a <br />house bought in 2006, the year in which the sales prices of single-family <br />homes were at their highest real price in history. Only 17 of the 138 <br />National Association of Realtors -covered metropolitan areas have lower <br />costs in 2007 than they did in 2003 when interest rates were bottomed out. <br />In 2010, more than one-third of American households spent more than <br />30% of income on housing, and 18% spent upwards of 50%.20 The number <br />of severely cost -burdened households (spending more than 50% of income <br />on housing) increased by 6.4 million households from 2001 to 2010, to a <br />total of nearly 20.2 million households in 2010. In 2010, there was a 5.1 <br />20 2010 American Community Survey, Table B25091 and Table B25070. <br />Page 44 ECONorthwest Part 11 — Eugene Housing Needs Analysis <br />