
A new research paper from the CRER examines housing affordability in the Chattanooga metro area. It looks at a variety of measures of housing affordability that account for increases in the median price, rising household incomes, smaller housing units, and the sharp increase in mortgage rates. It concludes that house affordability remains a problem relative to the pre-pandemic period, but that faster-than-average income growth has significantly lessened the effect of higher prices. High mortgage rates remain the biggest obstacle for returning to pre-crisis levels of affordability.