Miami ranks 18th for affordable cities to buy a home

Miami was the nation’s 18th most affordable city to buy a home in during the fourth quarter of 2015, thanks in part to steady mortgage rates and median home prices.

The ranking comes from HSH.com, a mortgage research company that analyzes U.S. housing markets. The group took a look at 27 of the country’s biggest metropolitan areas during the fourth quarter, including Miami, and ranked their affordability with factors like mortgage rates, home prices and salaries.

Assuming a homebuyer could afford a 20 percent down payment on Miami’s median home price of $286,000, they would need to make $63,048 per year to live here. That, coupled with a 4.07 percent interest rate on mortgages, lands Miami squarely on the lower end of the affordability spectrum.

Despite its low ranking out of the 27 cities analyzed, Miami’s affordability seems to be on the rise. Home prices fell by nearly 1.4 percent between the third and fourth quarter, and mortgage rates have mostly held steady. Those factors alone have reduced a buyer’s necessary income by a little over $1,000 per year, according to the report.

So what city is the U.S.’s most affordable market for homebuyers? The city where three rivers meet: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvannia.

Its median home price of $128,000 and 3.9 percent mortgage rate makes it the country’s most affordable major city, according to HSH. A potential buyer would need to make only $31,134 per year to pay his or her mortgage.

Close behind Pittsburgh was Cleveland, Ohio, which would require a salary of $32,523, and Cincinnati at $33,967 per year. — Sean Stewart-Muniz