Community Corner
Study Finds Housing in Fairfield "Not Affordable"
Hartford-based Partnership for Strong Communities ranks Fairfield among towns and cities.
According to a new study, "Fairfield is Not Affordable."
The 2010 Partnership for Strong Communities ranks the town as one of the least affordable in the Nutmeg State.
In 112 out of 169 Connecticut towns and cities, the state median household income doesn’t permit a resident to purchase a home at the town’s median home price, according to the study. In Fairfield the gap between a median priced home and income is less than $50,000.
Find out what's happening in Fairfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
An “affordable” town means a resident with the 2010 median income for that town could afford a mortgage on the median priced home in that town. Fairfield is considered “Not Affordable.” That means a resident with the median income can’t afford a mortgage.
The median home sales price for Fairfield was $531,250 in 2009 compared with $505,000 in 2010. The town’s median household income was $106,767 in 2009 compared with $103,754 in 2010.
Find out what's happening in Fairfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Westport’s median home sales price was $1,025,000 in 2009 compared with $1,003,000 in 2010; its median household income was $155,614 in 2009 and $160,451 in 2010.
“Not surprisingly, Connecticut’s least affordable town were concentrated in Fairfield and Litchfield Counties,” according to the report.
According to the study, the five most affordable towns are Waterbury, Hartford, New Britain, Bridgeport and Plainfield. The five least affordable towns are Greenwich, New Canaan, Darien, Westport and Weston.
The study based its assumption on a 4.5 percent fixed-rate, 30-year mortgage, a 1 percent annual property tax rate, a 2.1 percent mortgage insurance premium and $60 per month in property insurance. It also assumes a homebuyer can make a down payment of 10 percent of the purchase price.
According to PSCHouing.org, the recession meant many households had less income and were thereby less able to buy a home. In addition, fewer households qualify for mortgages because the subprime market collapse. That collapse led to stricter mortgage underwriting standards, higher down payments and higher credit scores.
