The research, conducted by Bankrate subsidiary Interest.com, examined median-household income for a given metro area and compared it to how much income was required to purchase a median-priced home. It then assigned the city a letter grade.
In Houston’s case, median income exceeded the median home price by just 5%.
“Houston came up with a solid C in our ratings.”
Mike Sante is managing editor for Interest.com.
“While you had an advantage with having lower than average housing prices, you had a disadvantage in that your property taxes were higher than average.”
Sante says exposure to hurricanes also offset the low cost of Houston housing by driving up the cost of homeowners’ insurance. That, he says, helps explain why Houston earned a C, while Phoenix, Arizona took a B+.