HousingWorks: Ownership gets harder

PROVIDENCE – As distressed sales of homes decline, fewer people find themselves able to be able to purchase a home, according to HousingWorks RI.
The coalition that encourages the development of affordable housing said last week that distressed property sales decreased from 45 percent of all sales during the first quarter of 2009 to 37 percent during the second quarter. For the first half of the year, distressed homes made up 41 percent of sales.
HousingWorks RI said that when those properties are removed from sales statistics, the median sales price of a single-family home stood at $235,000. The coalition said that a typical family would need to make $71,327 to afford such a house. In 2007, the median family income in Rhode Island was $68,740, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
“It is clear that, as the real estate market recovers and the number of distressed properties decreases, market-rate homes will become even less affordable – and Rhode Island will continue facing the economic consequences of an under-supply of homes that are affordable for our state’s workforce,” the coalition said in a statement.