Madison with Housing Deficit

A recent study on the real estate market movement in the city of Madison has determined that the city currently has a high demand for affordable housing for people with middle or low incomes, especially for those working in the construction sector.

The issue of low wages for people working in the area of construction, repair, and refurbishment of homes is generally always low in the country. However, in the state of Wisconsin, specifically in the city of Madison, the fees for these people are so low that they continuously cause economic difficulties, especially if they intend to buy a home with their meager salary.

Likewise, the study indicates that it is specifically the people working in construction who increase the demand for affordable housing in the city. To understand the difficulty they have in buying a normal home within Madison, it is enough to point out that these people can earn about $30 per hour, approximately, and a monthly mortgage for this type of house can have a value exceeding $2000.

Considering the values mentioned above, personal and family maintenance of a home, health, education, and other expenses that each individual may have, it is important to calculate the approximate number of hours that construction sector workers should work weekly if they wish to buy an affordable home at a median price.

Therefore, according to the study’s calculations and considering last year’s statistics on Madison’s wages, it was determined that if construction workers do not allocate more than 30% of their income to housing, they should work about 55 hours a week to afford a median-priced home. This estimate then indicates an increase compared to last year because previously, approximately 42 hours of work per week were necessary for a person working in construction to afford to buy a house.

However, the real estate market for construction sector workers has other aspects that make it much more difficult for them to buy a house, in addition to the high housing prices in Madison, such as the slowness in housing construction and the fact that wages do not keep pace with inflation.

On the other hand, the report concluded that mortgage payments in Madison are generally more expensive than in the entire state of Wisconsin or the entire country, and therefore the homeownership rate in Madison is lower than the national average.

Despite all this, city leaders are encouraging developers and investors in the construction sector to develop more housing projects that allow for the adaptation to the expected demographic growth and improve the affordability of Madison.

Available foreclosures: 

Madison: 15 homes available

By Elias DaSilva | September 26, 2024