According to recent Fannie Mae calculations,it will take one of three things, or a combination of them to get back to affordable housing in America:Housing prices would need to drop 38%Median household income would need to rise 60%Mortgage rates would need to fall to 2.35%This widening gap is why creative investing strategies are becoming more important than ever.

Yes there was outliers to both extremes but best to keep to medians. 

Here are some key highlights from the report, which compares October 2025 with October 2024:The median sales price in the City of Austin increased slightly to $552,500 (up <1%), while the greater Austin metro rose 1.4% to $439,000, indicating modest year-over-year appreciation and continued stability.Closed sales were essentially flat in Austin at 786 transactions (up <1%), while the metro saw a 9.6% decline to 2,238.

Quote from @Annette Barnett: Looking for opinions on the best cities with pop of 500K or more for highest combo of cashflow/appreciation over next 5 to 10 years and with median home prices under $350K.

-The single-family median price declined 1.5% to $330,000.

In fact housing prices only fell around 7% back in 2008 where many markets saw over double that.Real Estate AppreciationIn Kansas City, MO median home price rose 5.8% year-over-year to about $317,000.

If all the roommates live together as a single household under one lease, it usually isn’t considered a lodging house.

I look at the HUD Fair Market Rent on their website, which is the Median Rent for either the county or the zip code. 

These households have mission-critical, direct income producing, or government jobsMarket performance: Since 2015, our property segment has averaged 9% annual appreciation and 7% annual rent growth.Vacancy: Under 2%This is why I don’t recommend “buying a property.”

Lower Treasury yields typically support mortgage rates, which remain near recent lows at approximately 6.25% for a 30-year fixed – UMBS 5.5s are sharply unchanged on the day, despite lower treasury yields.The Bureau of Labor Statistics confirmed it will not publish the October jobs report due to the 43-day government shutdown, which prevented collection of household survey data.