Middle class feels home cost squeeze

It’s getting harder for the middle class to buy a home in South Florida.

Buyers needed to earn $59,869 a year to afford a home that cost the median price of $269,100 in March in Broward, Palm Beach or Miami-Dade counties, the website HSH.com reported.

That’s $1,438 more than three months before — when the price of a median-priced home was $4,100 less, according the online publisher of mortgage industry data.

The figure includes principal, interest, taxes and insurance on a median-priced home. It assumes a 20 percent down payment and no more than 36 percent of gross income used for housing costs.

“It’s good news if you are a home seller — but not if you are a buyer,” said Keith Gumbinger, a HSH.com vice president.

He blamed South Florida’s rising home prices and higher insurance costs for making the three counties less affordable for homebuyers.

Home insurance costs in Florida were up about $700 in a year, Gumbinger said, citing the latest data from the nonprofit Insurance Information Institute in New York. The institute releases insurance costs only by state and doesn’t break down regional costs.

It costs $2,084 a year to insure the medianpriced home in Florida, he said — the highest in the nation.

Many South Florida homebuyers are stretched financially because wages are lower here than the national average. Median household income in South Florida was $46,946 in 2013, $5,304 lower than the national average, the U.S. Census Bureau reported.

There was some good news, however, Gumbinger said. The average 30-year mortgage rate dropped in the first quarter to 3.87 percent in South Florida, down from 4.09 percent three months earlier. , according to the HSH website.