By Jennifer Pullen, Senior Research Economist
How affordable is housing in Tucson? It depends on who you ask and what data you explore. In 2018, the median price of a single-family home in the Tucson Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) was at an eleven-year high and up 6.0% over last year. While prices have steadily increased since the Great Recession, Tucson continues to have one of the lowest median home prices when compared to peer western MSAs (Figure 1). However, when it comes to affordability, home prices only tell part of the story. The income of the local residents is equally as important.
Figure 1: Median Home Price
The MAP Dashboard explores two measures of affordability, one for homeowners and one for renters. Housing affordability looks at how affordable recently sold single-family homes are to someone earning the local median family income. Tucson ranks highly in housing affordability among peer western MSAs with 66.2% of homes sold in 2018 affordable. The outlook for rental affordability isn’t quite as rosy for Tucson when compared to peer MSAs.
To learn more about affordability for homeowners and renters, along with a detailed breakdown of what this means and how many household in Tucson are housing cost burdened, visit the MAP Dashboard.
