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(WASHINGTON, DC) - The 235,000-member National Association of Home Builders says its just-released Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI) shows housing affordability nationwide in the third quarter has risen to the highest level in four years - but it doesn't mention availability of loans for those houses.

Sandy J. Dunn

However, NAHB Chairman Sandy J. Dunn views the data cautiously.

"If there is a silver lining to this crisis, it would be that some housing markets have become more affordable with a larger inventory to choose from," she says.  "But this is undeniably a crisis and Congress needs to act on housing stimulus to get the market moving again."  Dunn builds homes in the Point Pleasant, W.VA market.

According to the NAHB index, Springfield, OH, with a metro market of under 500,000 residents, is the most affordable area in the country right now.  The data shows 92.9 percent of all homes sold in the third quarter were affordable to families earning Springfield's median household income of $54,500.

In the larger metro markets, the two most affordable major housing markets were Indianapolis, IN, and Youngstown, OH. Data in both markets showed 91.0 percent of homes sold in the third quarter were affordable to families earning the areas' median household incomes of $65,100 and $52,000, respectively.

Also near the top of the list for affordable major metropolitan areas were Grand Rapids-Wyoming, Mich.; Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, Mich.; and Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, Mich., in that order.

New York-White Plains-Wayne, N.Y.-N.J., was the nation's least affordable major housing market for the second consecutive quarter. In the New York market, 10.6 percent of the new and existing homes sold during the third quarter were affordable to those earning the area's median family income of $63,000.

Other major metro areas at the bottom of the housing affordability chart included San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, Calif.; Nassau-Suffolk, N.Y.; Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, Calif.; and Miami-Miami Beach- Kendall, Fla., in that order.

Among smaller metro areas, the other markets at the bottom of the affordability chart were San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, Calif.; Santa Cruz-Watsonville, Calif.; Napa, Calif.; and Bend, Ore., respectively.

According to the third-quarter HOI readings, 56.1 percent of all new and existing homes that were sold were affordable to families earning the national median income of $61,500, far more than the 40.4 percent of families who could afford homes at the peak of the housing boom.

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