Among Florida’s 22 metropolitan areas, the Tampa Bay housing market is still among the most affordable as of the second quarter of 2015, according to the Housing Opportunity Index (HOI) of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and Wells Fargo. The Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metro area is the 12th most affordable in Florida, based on second-quarter 2015 data.
The HOI refers to the percentage of homes for sale in a certain area which is affordable to the area’s families earning a median income, using standard mortgage underwriting criteria. The index uses median family income data issued by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and applies the assumption that a family is able to spend 28 percent of its gross earnings on home mortgage.
The median home price in the Tampa Bay area increased over the year by a big 15%, but homes are still affordable to median-income families because the area’s median family income also increased. The area’s median income rose over the year from $57,400 to $59,000, an increase of 2.8%.
| FL RANK | US RANK | METRO | HOI | MEDIAN FAMILY | MEDIAN SALES |
| AREA | 2015 QTR2 | INCOME | PRICE | ||
| 1 | 51 | Ocala | 83.8 | $47,300 | $100,000 |
| 2 | 63 | Gainesville | 81.6 | 63,800 | 150,000 |
| 3 | 63 | Tallahassee | 81.6 | 65,100 | 150,000 |
| 4 | 71 | Lakeland-Winter Haven | 80.4 | 50,300 | 125,000 |
| 5 | 78 | Pensacola-Ferry Pass | |||
| -Brent | 79.9 | 63,300 | 150,000 | ||
| 6 | 90 | Palm Bay-Melbourne | |||
| -Titusville | 78.4 | 61,900 | 144,000 | ||
| 7 | 104 | Crestview-Fort Walton | |||
| Beach-Destin | 76.8 | 67,500 | 182,000 | ||
| 8 | 108 | Jacksonville | 75.8 | 63,300 | 160,000 |
| 9 | 113 | Deltona-Daytona Beach | |||
| -Ormond Beach | 75.0 | 51,800 | 131,000 | ||
| 10 | 114 | Panama City-Lynn Haven | |||
| -Panama City Beach | 74.6 | 57,900 | 160,000 | ||
| 11 | 114 | Punta Gorda | 74.6 | 58,400 | 145,000 |
| 12 | 118 | Tampa-St. Petersburg | |||
| -Clearwater | 74.3 | 59,000 | 145,000 | ||
| 13 | 130 | Orlando-Kissimmee | |||
| -Sanford | 70.9 | 58,300 | 169,000 | ||
| 14 | 141 | Sebastian-Vero Beach | 68.6 | 59,000 | 165,000 |
| 15 | 146 | Palm Coast | 68.0 | 49,200 | 160,000 |
| 16 | 149 | Port St. Lucie | 67.8 | 53,300 | 154,000 |
| 17 | 156 | North Port-Bradenton | |||
| -Sarasota | 66.2 | 62,300 | 194,000 | ||
| 18 | 160 | Fort Lauderdale-Pompano | |||
| Beach-Deerfield Beach | 64.4 | 63,000 | 180,000 | ||
| 19 | 167 | Cape Coral-Fort Myers | 62.3 | 57,600 | 190,000 |
| 20 | 172 | West Palm Beach | |||
| -Boca Raton-Boynton Beach | 61.7 | 66,000 | 209,000 | ||
| 21 | 201 | Naples-Marco Island | 49.4 | 66,500 | 300,000 |
| 22 | 208 | Miami-Miami Beach | |||
| -Kendall | 45.8 | 50,100 | 222,000 |
Across the nation, the most affordable metropolitan housing market is Kokomo, Indiana.
The Ten Most Affordable Metro Housing Markets are:
1. Kokomo, Indiana
2. Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, Iowa-Illinois
3. Lima, Ohio
4. Elmira, New York
5. Cumberland, Maryland-West Virginia
6. Utica-Rome, New York
7. Elizabethtown, Kentucky
8. Battle Creek, Michigan
9. Fairbanks, Arkansas
10. Monroe, Michigan
The least affordable metro housing markets are in California, the most expensive of which is the San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City metro area.
The Ten Most Expensive Housing Markets are:
1. San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, California
2. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, California
3. Santa Cruz-Watsonville, California
4. Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine, California
5. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, California
6. Napa, California
7. Salinas, California
8. Santa Rosa-Petaluma, California
9. New York-White Plains-Wayne, New York-New Jersey
10. San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, California
Tampa Bay Housing Affordability Declined Compared to Other Metro Areas Nationwide
In the second quarter last year, the Tampa Bay housing market ranked 95th in HOI nationwide. In the same quarter this year, its HOI rank moved down to 118th. One of the factors is the big increase in Tampa Bay’s home prices. The median home sales price in the second quarter last year was $126,000. It shot up to $145,000 this year, representing a big increase of 15%.