By Richard Metcalf / ABQ Journal Staff Writer

The single-family housing market is close to evenly balanced when measured for affordability against other metros around the country, according to the Housing Opportunity Index put out by the National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo.

The Albuquerque metro area ranked 121 out of 230 metros in the second quarter with an index score of 73.2, based on a scale where zero means homebuying is impossibly tough and 100 means it’s fairly easy. The average index score nationwide was a lower 63.2.

As a measure of housing health, the Housing Opportunity Index indicates Albuquerque’s single-family home market is not overpriced relative to prevailing household incomes.

[A couple of single-family homes are seen for sale in the Northeast Heights earlier this year. The Albuquerque metro ranks about midpack in the Housing Opportunity Index. (Marla Brose / Albuquerque Journal)]

A couple of single-family homes are seen for sale in the Northeast Heights earlier this year. The Albuquerque metro ranks about midpack in the Housing Opportunity Index. (Marla Brose / Albuquerque Journal)

Good news, obviously, but also suggestive of a metro where not a lot is happening from a socioeconomic standpoint.

Based on a simple formula, the index score basically means that 73.2 percent of the homes sold in Albuquerque during the second quarter were affordable to households making the median income of $59,400 a year.

Elsewhere in the country, comparable index scores of about 73 can be found in small metros like Burlington, Vt.; Tyler, Texas; and Lake Havasu/Kingman, Ariz.

Sixteen of the 20 least affordable metros were in California in the second quarter, with San Francisco and Los Angeles at the bottom with index scores of 11 and 16.2 respectively. The most affordable metros tend to be in the Rust Belt, roughly from New York to Michigan. Click here to read the full article.