Housing

NBC -Homeownership in the U.S. is increasingly coming with unaffordable monthly costs, especially among middle-class homebuyers, according to an analysis of Census Bureau data. Almost 30% of middle-class homeowners bought homes with monthly payments costing more than 30% of their income in 2022, an NBC News analysis of Census Bureau data found. That’s more than twice the share from 2013, with experts warning it leaves many households with less money for emergencies. That “cost-burdened” benchmark — in which a household devotes over 30% of income to housing costs — is a widely used measure of affordability for both homeownership and renting.Today, in more than 30% of U.S. counties tracked by the NBC News Home Buyer Index, average-income house hunters presented with a median-priced home would end up in cost-burdened territory should they buy. Data journalist Jasmine Cui takes a look at the reality that has left many middle-class families on the sidelines.