ATTOM Data Solutions’ latest U.S. Home Affordability Report shows homes were less affordable than historical averages in nearly every county across the country at the end of 2025. That’s no surprise, of course. Anyone with even a passing interest in buying a house knows the housing market has an affordability problem. But while the market continues to have affordability issues, the news isn’t all bad. In fact, Rob Barber, ATTOM’s CEO, says there was improvement at the end of last year. “Many Americans were priced out of buying a home in 2025, and affordability remains worse than historic norms in most markets,” Barber said. “Still, modest, quarter-over-quarter affordability improvements in many markets at the end of the year offered some encouragement.” ATTOM found 86 percent of analyzed counties were more affordable during the fourth quarter than they were in the third. The improvement was largely due to falling mortgage rates last fall and brought the typical cost of a monthly mortgage payment down 2 percent from the previous quarter. (source)
