Home | Newsletter | Advertise
loading...

DC-Area Buyers Need to Earn $116,000 to Afford Starter Home, Per Report

  • September 30th 2024

by UrbanTurf Staff

✉️ Want to forward this article? Click here.

A new report estimates how much DC-area buyers need to earn in order to afford a "starter home" in the region. 

Redfin recently found that, in order to afford a "starter home", first-time homebuyers need to have an income of approximately $116,000, about the same as last year, but notably higher than the $91,000 needed in 2022. 

The problem with the term "starter home" however is that, in many ways, those no longer exist in the U.S. housing market. 

“It’s great news that starter homes are becoming a little more affordable, but there’s a catch,” said Redfin Senior Economist Elijah de la Campa. “Starter homes aren’t what they used to be. A decade ago, a turnkey four-bedroom house in a nice neighborhood was often considered a starter home, but today, a small fixer-upper condo is often all a first-time homebuyer can afford.”

For context, in the DC region, the median price of a starter home was pegged at just below $365,000 about the cost of a studio or junior one-bedroom in the city. 

See other articles related to: starter homes

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/dc-area_buyers_need_to_earn_116000_to_afford_starter_home_per_report/22768.

DC Real Estate Guides

Short guides to navigating the DC-area real estate market

We've collected all our helpful guides for buying, selling and renting in and around Washington, DC in one place. Start browsing below!

First-Timer Primers

Intro guides for first-time home buyers

Red Flags Revealed During a Home Inspection Top 5 Tax Breaks For Homeowners Tax Relief for DC Homeowners
Condo Fee Tutorial What is a Rent Back? 10 Ways To Tell If a Home Renovation is Well Done
Obtaining a Basic Business License For Your Rental What is an Adjustable Rate Mortgage? The Splitting the Rent Formula
How Much Cash Do You Need to Buy a House? Is This Condo Building Financially Healthy? Interest Rates and Mortgage Points
The Scoop on Mortgage Insurance

Unique Spaces

Awesome and unusual real estate from across the DC Metro

The Most Intriguing Loft in DC The R Street Firehouse DC’s One-Room House
Dupont Circle’s Old Frat House To Become Alley Home Best Transition From a Garage To a Home The Roundhouse
Tilden Gardens Restaurant-Turned-Home Hits Market Next Week Logan Circle’s Most Intriguing Garage Frank Lloyd Wright Goes Green in Kensington
Sears Bungalow Gets a Modern Makeover Old Town General Store Becomes Three-Level Home Making the Most of a Skinny House
A Studio 27 Renovation on Capitol Hill Once a Carriage House, Now a Home The Bank that Became a Home
From Pie to Hooch to Heroin to Home The Live-Aboards of Gangplank Marina A Treehouse with Rock Creek Park As A Backyard
Modern Tranquility in Sperryville Saddle Up For Stable Living Throwing a Curve at 550 Square Feet
A Modern Hilltop Retreat Tilden Street Restaurant Becomes Spacious Home Focus on Design: A Vastu Unit at 22 West
The DC Area’s First Net Zero Home A Yankee Goes Green DC’s First Carbon Neutral Home
Eco-Friendly Alley House Off H Street The Gym, The Stables and The Firehouse