Reuters - Fewer low-income Americans took out mortgage loans last year than 2020, real estate broker Redfin said in a report on Monday, as steep interest rates make homebuying less affordable.
As aggressive rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve have pushed up the cost of standard 30-year mortgages to more than 7%, existing homeowners have held on to rock-bottom rates from the pandemic. That has limited the supply of homes for sale and resulted in higher prices.
Roughly 20.6% of new mortgages issued last year went to low-income Americans, down from 23.2% in 2020, bringing that group's piece of the homebuying pie back to where it was in 2018, according to the report, which analyses Home Mortgage Disclosure Act ( HMDA ) data covering purchases of primary homes.
"Somewhat ironically, the continued strength of the economy has made it harder to afford a home and widened the real-estate wealth gap between rich and poor Americans," Redfin Senior Economist Elijah de la Campa said.
The median household income in the HMDA data for low-income households was $64,000.

Sumber : Reuters