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64 THE QUESTION OF AFFORDABILITY e economic expansion over the past nine years has not only created more than 20 million jobs and raised family incomes but has also driven the recovery of the housing market, according to a special report by CoreLogic. e report indicated that over the past decade, the number of homes with negative equity have decreased (4.1% in Q1 2019 against 25.9% during the same period in 2010), while total home equity has also hit a record high. At the end of Q1 2019, total home equity reached $15.8 trillion, up from $6.1 trillion a decade ago. Additionally, between Q1 2010 and Q1 2019, the average equity per borrower increased from approximately $75,000 to $171,000. "Home prices have increased steadily since 2011, creating record amounts of home equity and putting homeowners in a good position to weather future downturns," said Molly Boesel, Principal Economist at CoreLogic. But the rise in home prices has also impacted housing affordability, especially in some areas of the country. Take the Golden State for example. According to Frank Nothaft, Chief Economist at CoreLogic, "While California's home prices grew considerably from 2013 to 2018, affordability issues in the state have since hampered growth with the state's average annual home price dropping from 7.4% in 2018 to 4.9% in 2019." e effects of affordability are being felt by millennials—the largest cohort of homebuyers—as well. According to the report, millennials made up 44% of home- purchase mortgage applications in 2018. However, metros in California had the lowest percentage of millennials applying for a mortgage. Additionally, the millennial share of homebuyers was higher in more affordable metros. Citing data from the CoreLogic Market Conditions Indicator the report said that of the top 10 metros for millennial buyers, four (Pittsburgh; Rochester, New York; Wichita, Kansas; and Grand Rapids, Michigan) were undervalued, five (Buffalo, New York; Milwaukee; Albany, New York; Provo, Utah; and Des Moines, Iowa) were at value, and one (Salt Lake City) was overvalued . But despite the challenges of affordability, the housing market is set to remain stable over the next two years, the report found. "We expect the housing market to enter a normalcy phase over the next 24 months. With prices, neither rising too fast nor too slow, and with a growing stream of young households looking to buy homes over the next two decades, the long-term view looks healthy," said Ralph McLaughlin, Deputy Chief Economist. CAN HAVING MORTGAGE DEBT BE GOOD FOR YOU? Is having debt a good thing? A new study by LendingTree found that higher debt relative to income is linked to higher life expectancy. "at trend reaffirms the idea that homeownership is ultimately a good thing— this is despite the fact that a mortgage is one of the biggest financial decisions and burdens a person will take on in their lifetime," the LendingTree study states. Of the counties studied with the highest life expediencies, California's Marin County had the highest average mortgage debt at $273,155, but the second-highest life expectancy at 83.17 years. Island living pays off too, as Hawaii's Kauai County has the highest life expectancy of the counties surveyed at 83.39 years. Homeowners in Kauai County have an average of $93,019 of mortgage debt. Homeowners in Madison County, New York, have an average of $45,071 of mortgage debt and a life expectancy of 82.32 years. Counties that had the lowest life expectancies, mostly in the southern region, had minimal mortgage debt. At 71.41 years, Walker County, Alabama, which had the lowest life expectancy of the counties studied, had an average mortgage debt of $22,226. ree others Alabama counties—Talladega, Russell, and Etowah—had among the lowest life expectancies, but had mortgage debt of $32.627, $50,888, and $29,863, respectively. Texas' Polk County had the lowest average mortgage debt at $19,645. Life expectancy in that county is 74.24 years—lower than the national average of 80 years. LendingTree states is analysis shows that those with higher incomes tend to take on less debt that those with lower incomes, with one exception. "e major exception is mortgages, which happens to be the only debt category which has the potential for value appreciation (though student loans can be used to increase income)," the report states. "e richest counties tended to have the highest mortgage-to-income ratios, while the poorest counties tended to have the overall highest debt-to-income ratios, excluding mortgages."

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