Housing and transportation costs affordability index
The mantra for affordability in Charleston real estate has long been drive until you qualify. In other words, more affordable homes are generally located further out in the suburbs. But with the price of gasoline higher, when you factor in transportation costs, living closer to your place of employment and other places that you travel to might actually be less expensive when the cost of transportation is factored in.
The H+T Affordability Index has a fascinating interactive chart to measure affordability on this basis.
H+T has been developed as a more complete measure of affordability beyond the standard method of assessing only housing costs taking into account both the cost of housing as well as the cost of transportation associated with the location of the home, H+T provides a more complete understanding of affordability. Dividing these costs by representative regional incomes illustrates the cost burden placed on a typical household by H+T expenses. While housing alone is traditionally deemed affordable when consuming no more than 30% of income, CNT has defined an affordable range for H+T as the combined costs consuming no more than 45% of income.
