Single Family Housing Units

• 2030 Growth Target: 242,500 units added
  

Townhouse/Multi-family units

• 2030 Growth Target: 242,500 units added

The target of 8,000-10,000 new townhouse/multifamily housing permits per year, on average, reflects the objective of providing the region’s residents with a range of life-cycle and affordable housing options. Strong demand for alternatives to single-family, detached housing has supported housing production levels well above the target level.

Source: Metropolitan Council Research

Affordable Housing - 2010 Needs

• Affordable Owner Target: 84,981 units added during 1996-2010
• Affordable Renter Target: 15,840 units added during 1996-2010

During the first half of this decade, the number of new affordable housing units added in the region was 57 percent of the annual average needed to meet cumulative long term goals of communities in the region. While affordable rental housing is close to the annual target, affordable ownership housing production has lagged. Though rapidly increasing residential market values reduced affordable home ownership opportunities earlier in the decade, recent decreases in home prices over the last two years have helped overall affordability.

Housing costs are considered affordable if they consume no more than 30 percent of household income. Affordability thresholds are defined each year based on the housing budget of households earning 80 percent of the regional family median income for owner-occupied housing, and 50 percent of median for rental housing.

Source: Metropolitan Council Research

Housing Affordability Index –
Homes sold at prices affordable to median income family

• 2000 Baseline: 75.0 percent affordable in metro area (vs. 59.7 percent national average)
• 2030 Target: 75.0 percent affordable in metro area
• Annual indicator: Region’s housing affordability should remain 15 points ahead of the national average

Changes in regional housing affordability generally have followed national trends, according to the affordability index maintained by the National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB). While the previous two indicators focus on new construction targeted at households earning 80 or 50 percent of the median income, the Housing Affordability Index measures a region’s percentage of homes sold that are affordable to a household earning the area’s median income. 

The affordability index has dropped this decade as housing prices have outpaced income growth though the index saw an uptick in 2007.  Still, a greater share of homes sold in the Twin Cities region are affordable to a median income family – 61.8 percent compared to 43.9 percent nationally in 2007.  Because affordability has deteriorated more rapidly in other parts of the nation, the margin between index values has widened, to 18 points in 2007.

.

Source: National Association of Home Builders