Among the 225 metro areas in the U.S. tracked and ranked every quarter by the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (NAHB/Wells Fargo HOI), the Tampa Bay metro area, named as Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metro area, is the 103rd most affordable housing market in the first quarter of 2015. The area improved from Its previous quarter’s ranking of 107th to 103rd.
The Tampa area’s lowest ranking in housing affordability within the past five years was in the fourth quarter of 2011, when the metro area ranked 143rd.
Here’s the affordability data for the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metro area in the first quarter of 2015:
Housing Affordability ranking in the U.S.: 103
Housing Affordability ranking in Florida: 10
Housing Opportunity Index (HOI): 78.2
Median Home Price: $129,000
Median Income: $59,000
HOI is defined as the percentage of homes sold in that area that are affordable to a family earning the area’s median income, based on standard mortgage underwriting criteria. The two major components of HOI are income and housing cost.
For the Tampa Bay metro area, its HOI of 78.2 means that 78.2 percent of homes for sale in the Tampa Bay metro area are affordable to people earning the median income of $59,000.
NAHB uses the annual median family income estimates published by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
MOST AFFORDABLE METRO AREAS
The 10 most affordable metro areas in the U.S. in the first quarter of 2014 were the following:
| RANK | METRO | HOI | MEDIAN | MEDIAN |
| AREA | 2014 | FAMILY | SALES | |
| INCOME | PRICE | |||
| 1 | Sandusky, OH | 96.3 | $69,600 | $105,000 |
| 2 | Cumberland, MD-WV | 96.1 | $51,600 | $79,000 |
| 3 | Syracuse, NY | 95.6 | $68,500 | 88,000 |
| 4 | Elmira, NY | 94.5 | $64,300 | $85,000 |
| 5 | Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, IA-IL | 94.4 | $69,000 | $93,000 |
| 6 | Kokomo, IN | 94.0 | $55,200 | $81,000 |
| 7 | Binghamton, NY | 93.5 | $66,400 | $93,000 |
| 8 | Springfield, OH | 93.5 | $53,800 | $75,000 |
| 9 | Lima, OH | 93.4 | $54,200 | $80,000 |
| 10 | Lansing-East Lansing, MI | 93.3 | $65,800 | $98,000 |
LEAST AFFORDABLE METRO AREAS
The 10 least affordable metro areas in the country in the first quarter of 2015 were the following:
| RANK | METRO | HOI | MEDIAN | MEDIAN |
| AREA | 2014 | FAMILY | SALES | |
| INCOME | PRICE | |||
| 1 | San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, CA | 14.1 | $103,400 | $907,000 |
| 2 | Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, CA | 17.7 | $63,200 | $475,000 |
| 3 | Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine, CA | 21.5 | $85,900 | 580,000 |
| 4 | Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA | 21.6 | $87,000 | $625,000 |
| 5 | Salinas, CA | 24.6 | $65,000 | $425,000 |
| 6 | New York-White Plains-Wayne, NY-NJ | 25.4 | $67,400 | $485,000 |
| 7 | San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | 26.1 | $106,300 | $696,000 |
| 8 | Napa, CA | 26.1 | $84,200 | $544,000 |
| 9 | Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA | 26.7 | $73,000 | $440,000 |
| 10 | San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, CA | 26.7 | $73,000 | $440,000 |
For the country as a whole, housing affordability improved to 66.5, meaning 66.5% of all new and existing homes sold in the first quarter in the U.S. were affordable to families with the national median income of $65,800.
The median home price decreased from $215,000 in the fourth quarter to $210,000 in the first quarter. Average mortgage interest rates fell from 4.29 percent to 4.03 percent over the same period.
MOST and LEAST AFFORDABLE METRO AREAS in FLORIDA
Of the 22 Florida metro areas tracked, the Tampa Bay metro area ranked 10th in housing affordability.
The 5 most affordable metro housing markets in Florida were the following:
1. Gainesville
2. Lakeland-Winter Haven
3. Tallahassee
4. Ocala
5. Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville
The 5 least affordable in Florida were these metro areas:
1. Panama City-Lynn Haven-Panama City Beach
2. Naples-Marco Island
3. Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall
4. West Palm Beach-Boca Raton-Boynton Beach
5. Cape Coral-Fort Myers
Tampa Bay Metro Area Was No. 108 in Housing Affordability in the Third Quarter of 2014