The Tampa Bay metro area is the 108th most affordable housing market in the U.S., based on third-quarter 2014 housing data from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and Wells Fargo. Housing affordability is measured by NAHB and Wells Fargo through their Housing Opportunity Index (HOI), an index they created to measure the percentage of homes for sale in a particular area that are affordable to a median-income family in the area, using standard home loan underwriting criteria.
Of the 227 metropolitan housing markets evaluated, the Tampa Bay area, referring to the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metro area, is 108th in HOI. Nearly 73% of all homes for sale in the Tampa Bay area in the third quarter of 2014 were affordable to median-income families in the area. The area’s median family income was $57,400 and the median home price was $138,000.
Tampa Bay metro area HOI: 72.8
Tampa Bay Median Family Income: $57,400
Tampa Bay Median Home Price: $138,000
The 10 most affordable metro areas in the U.S. in the third quarter of 2014 were the following:
| RANK | METRO | HOI | MEDIAN | MEDIAN |
| AREA | 2014 | FAMILY | SALES | |
| INCOME | PRICE | |||
| 1 | Kokomo, IN | 94.8 | $56,900 | $101,000 |
| 2 | Cumberland, MD-WV | 94.8 | $54,100 | $89,000 |
| 3 | Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, IA-IL | 93.8 | $62,800 | $103,000 |
| 4 | Mansfield, OH | 92.0 | $53,700 | $91,000 |
| 5 | Springfield, OH | 91.3 | $52,700 | $95,000 |
| 6 | Utica-Rome, NY | 91.0 | $59,500 | $90,000 |
| 7 | Lima, OH | 90.6 | $54,800 | $99,000 |
| 8 | Monroe, MI | 90.5 | $63,800 | $130,000 |
| 9 | Binghamton, NY | 90.1 | $62,900 | $108,000 |
| 10 | Salisbury, MD | 89.3 | $53,500 | $135,000 |
The 10 least affordable metro areas in the U.S., based on third-quarter 2014 data, were the following:
| RANK | METRO | HOI | MEDIAN | MEDIAN |
| AREA | 2014 | FAMILY | SALES | |
| INCOME | PRICE | |||
| 1 | Napa, CA | 10.2 | $70,300 | $510,000 |
| 2 | San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, CA | 11.4 | $100,400 | $875,000 |
| 3 | Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA | 14.8 | $77,900 | $600,000 |
| 4 | Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, CA | 16.3 | $61,400 | $460,000 |
| 5 | Salinas, CA | 16.7 | $59,100 | $410,000 |
| 6 | Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine, CA | 17.4 | $83,400 | $579,000 |
| 7 | San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | 20.9 | $101,900 | $689,000 |
| 8 | New York-White Plains-Wayne, NY-NJ | 21.6 | $65,500 | $482,000 |
| 9 | San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, CA | 23.4 | $72,700 | $437,000 |
| 10 | Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA | 25.6 | $76,900 | $449,000 |
Of the 22 metro areas evaluated in Florida, the Tampa Bay metro area ranked 13th in housing affordability.
The 5 most affordable metro housing markets in Florida were the following:
1. Lakeland-Winter Haven
2. Tallahassee
3. Ocala
4. Gainesville
5. Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville
The 5 most expensive metropolitan housing markets in Florida were these metro areas:
1 Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall
2. Naples-Marco Island
3. North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota
4. West Palm Beach-Boca Raton-Boynton Beach
5. Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach
As we can see, the Tampa Bay area housing market is in the middle of the pack. It is about midpoint in the ranking of the 22 Florida metropolitan housing markets.
Check out the Tampa Bay real estate market to find the home you’ve been looking for!