Calculating how much house you can afford can be difficult. Not only do you have to take your budget and lifestyle into account, you also have to keep up on changes in the housing market. That's particularly tricky these days. Quickly changing affordability conditions mean potential buyers have to regularly recalculate costs when considering which available homes are a good financial fit.
Fortunately for home shoppers wondering about their potential costs, the Mortgage Bankers Association keeps a monthly measure of typical mortgage payments based on loan application data. In April, the data shows payments rose $153 from March, due mostly to higher mortgage rates. The median payment applied for by April applicants was $1,889, with FHA loan applicants seeing the most affordable payments at $1,374.
Edward Seiler, MBA's associate vice president of housing economics, says affordability conditions have become more challenging since the start of the year, but noted that “... prospective home buyers should start to see moderation from the double-digit price appreciation reported for well over a year in most of the country.”
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