HUD Tracks Housing Cost Trends

RISMedia (08/21/08); Carter, Angela
A recent HUD report, Trends in Housing Costs: 1985-2005 and the 30-Percent-of-Income Standard, reveals a 128 percent jump in median housing costs to $793 per month from $348 per month over the last two decades. During this period, homeowners saw monthly mortgage payments rise 127 percent to $1,521 from $670, with approximately 67 percent of their monthly housing expenses tied to mortgage principal and interest. The report also shows that low-income households with annual salaries of $33,412, very-low-income households earning $24,668 and extremely-low-income households earning $9,905 spent more than 30 percent of their incomes on housing. However, households making $42,067 to more than $127,730 annually devoted less than 30 percent of their earnings to housing.