Evidence is mounting that the U.S. housing market may be deteriorating faster than it did in the 2008 recession. This has sparked speculation that home prices may be in for a more brutal pullback than many economists projected.
Perhaps most startling is the price-to-income (PI) ratios on homes. Using a median new home price of $438,067 and average hourly earnings of $27.32 puts the PI ratio at 16,035. For context, this is the highest the figure has been since the Great Recession, when it was 14,923. Relative to wages, home prices are beyond reach for a majority of working Americans, meaning the demand for homes is unlikely to return without a substantial correction to real estate prices.
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