According to Patti Silverstein, Colorado ranked #2 in 2019 for wage growth of 4.9%. This puts Colorado median household income at about $75,000 at the end of 2019. Thus, a 4.9% income increase is roughly $300 a month. You couple this fact that mortgage rates are down by 1% from a year ago and homes are becoming more affordable in Colorado. For example, you bought a $400k home with 5% down at the end of 2018, your principal and interest payment at 4.875% then was $2010 a month or about 33.8% of their monthly household income ($2010/$5950). At the end of 2019 a $400k home with 5% down at a rate of 3.875% gave you a principal and interest payment of $1786. This drops their housing debt to income ratio to 28.6% ($1786/$6250). This is a drop of 15.4% in just 1 year! If these hypothetical buyers kept their housing debt to income ratio at 33.8% in December 2019 they could have purchased a home priced at $473k with 5% down. That’s a ton of more buying power due to higher wages and lower mortgage rates.
