Despite rising housing prices, homes across the nation are becoming more affordable to median-income families, thanks to lower interest rates, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index, released today. Greater New York, however, continues to be the least affordable major housing market in the country.

Nationwide, the median price of new and existing homes sold in the third quarter was $189,000, $13,000 higher than the previous year, the report stated. But the reduced mortgage rates — they’re at the lowest they’ve been in more than a decade – meant that 74.1 percent of these homes were affordable to median-income families, up from 73.8 percent in the previous quarter. [more]

A new construction home

Builder confidence in construction for new single-family homes nationwide has doubled since last September, according to numbers released by the association today. In February, the National Association of Home Builders Housing Market Index rose to 29 from 25 month-over-month. The index measures buyers’ expectations for the market in the next six months. [more]