For an ever-increasing share of families, buying a house is a difficult goal to achieve. In spring 1991, 51 percent of families couldn’t afford a median-priced house in the area where they lived, using conventional, fixed-rate, 30-year financing with a 5-percent down payment. Just 3 years earlier, the figure was 49 percent. The percentage of unrelated individuals unable to afford a median-priced house remained at 76 percent.

This Brief uses data collected by the Survey of income and Program Participation (SIPP) to examine which families were most likely to be unable to afford a median-priced home, why they couldn’t buy one, what homes they could afford, and more. Some data are provided for all householders, rather than for just families.