Category Archives: Philadelphia

Single women unable to afford rent and mortgage in most major metros

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Single people, especially women, are struggling to afford homeownership and rent in most major cities.

Since single women’s median income is lower than men’s on average, they are priced out of several major cities.

PropertyShark and  RENTCafé recently priced the 50 biggest metros in the country to determine where single people could afford housing on their own. Being able to afford housing is defined as spending no more than 30 percent of one’s monthly income on rent or mortgage payments. They defined homes as starter units, such as studios and one-bedroom rentals, condos or houses.

Results found that in nine of the 50 cities, single men could afford mortgage, but single women could not. Fourteen cities, including Philadelphia, have priced out all singles. Philadelphia does have lower costs than other cities on the list, such as Manhattan and San Francisco, but based on the average salary, single people of both genders would struggle to afford housing. Women, more so, have a tough time in Philadelphia, the study found that it costs 54 percent of the average woman’s salary to pay a mortgage.

Renting is even worse, according to the study. For single men, they can afford the mortgage in 35 out of 50 cities. But rent? Not so much. They can only afford the rent on a similar building (typical one-bedroom or studio) in 18 cities. Single females can only afford rent in two of the 50 cities analyzed.

In Philadelphia, neither gender is likely to be able to afford a rent or a mortgage solo on the average salary.

Wichita, KS and Tulsa, OK are the lone two cities where both genders can afford a rent and a mortgage with their average salary.

Affording a down payment in Philadelphia takes an average of 3.8 years, study reports

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Affording a down payment is a struggle for some potential homebuyers, and SmartAsset recently analyzed how long it would take residents in the 15 biggest cities in the country to save for a down payment.

Philadelphia was included in the study, and researchers found that it takes an average of 3.8 years for someone to save for a down payment in the city. Thanks to the lowest average income on the list, at $38,253, as well as the ninth-highest home prices at an average of $145,300, saving for a down payment may take a while. Philadelphia landed in eighth out of the 15 cities studied.

“How much house a person can afford depends on many factors including location, income, credit score, and savings, among others. In our study, it was surprising to see that even in places like San Francisco where the median income is relatively high, it would be nearly impossible for the average household to afford the ensuing mortgage payments on the median-priced home,” said AJ Smith, SmartAsset’s personal finance expert and VP of content.

The analysis took into consideration the median home prices and income, and calculated how long it would take residents to save 20 percent for a down payment if they saved 20 percent of their income. Not surprisingly, California claimed four out of the top five spots for length of time it would take to afford a down payment, thanks to San Francisco (9.84 years), Los Angeles (9.38 years), San Jose (7.2 years) and San Diego (7.01 years). New York City claimed third place, as it would take residents an average of 99.27 years to afford a 20 percent down payment.

“While it would take 3.8 years to afford a down payment in Philadelphia, given the parameters we explored, that’s a relatively short amount of time compared to other big cities where saving up for a down payment can take almost a decade,” added Smith.