‘Out of hand.’ Renters around Rock Hill face uphill climb to afford to buy a house

For most people who rent homes and apartments across the Rock Hill region, the prospect of buying a home isn’t feasible. In some places, it isn’t close.

The typical renter in Lancaster County would have to more than double their household income to afford an average house there. Fort Mill renters face a similar trek. It’s a little less challenging in Rock Hill, where the gap between renters’ income and home affordability is still nearly $26,000 per year.

Those figures come from a Herald comparison of the most recent Canopy Realtor Association and U.S. Census Bureau data on home affordability and income. They show an uphill climb for renters, one felt by thousands of people who face rising costs regardless whether they’re looking for a home.

“It’s out of hand,” said Danny Hayden, a retired Rock Hill resident who lives in an apartment complex off Patriot Parkway. “Even the rent. You’ve got to find somewhere to live. It’s hard to get a house.”

How much do I need to make to buy a home around Rock Hill?

Canopy Realtor Association produces monthly real estate reports for a 16-county region surrounding Charlotte. The association details how long homes spend on the market, how much of their asking price buyers get and how sales trends track with previous years.

For May, the association went a step further to determine how much money a household needs to earn to buy a home in specific areas.

Estimates factor in a median-priced home and a 30-year mortgage, with a 20% down payment. They also build in taxes, insurance and guidelines that housing not exceed 28% of gross monthly income.

A family would need to earn about $110,000 per year in York County and $111,000 per year in Lancaster County to afford the median-priced homes, respectively, at $425,000 and $430,000. Earning $75,000 per year would work for a $290,000 home in Chester County.

Communities vary, from the $127,000 household income needed in Fort Mill to $86,000 in Rock Hill. May median home sale prices hit $490,000 in Fort Mill, compared to $334,000 in Rock Hill.

So, beyond existing homeowners, who can pay those prices?

Income for renters and homeowners

Homeowners account for more than three of every four households across the Rock Hill region. That still leaves nearly 39,000 households that rent. An estimated 86,634 people live in rented spaces across York, Lancaster and Chester counties.

That’s roughly the same as the populations of Rock Hill and Lancaster, combined.

In York County, renters earn 56.1% of the household income that homeowners do, according to the census bureau. That figure ranges from 55.6% in Lancaster County to 61.6% in Chester County.

The $62,245 median household income for York County renters is well below the $110,000 Canopy figures would be needed for a home there.

Lancaster County’s $51,401 renter household income is less than half of the $111,000 needed for the typical home. It’s the same for Chester County, where renters make $36,447 but would need $75,000 for a home.

Fort Mill has a median renter household income of $65,247. That’s a little more than half the $127,000 needed for a home. Rock Hill, at $60,180 of renter household income, is closer to what people need for a home there at $86,000.

Across the Charlotte metro region, households needed to earn $106,000 to buy the median home of $410,000 in May, according to Canopy. Renter households across the region, according to the Census Bureau, bring in $59,178.

Comparing Canopy Realtor Association estimates to census data, about 30,000 households across the Rock Hill region rent and make less than it would take to buy a median price home.

That’s 77.5% of all households that rent.

Are affordability issues changing in Rock Hill?

Home affordability, particularly for first-time buyers, isn’t an issue isolated to the Rock Hill region. The national rate of first-time homebuyers dropped to the lowest level on record at just 21% of home sales in a year, the National Association of Realtors announced in April.

Yet some trends offer hope for home shoppers.

Townhome prices across the Charlotte region dipped to $350,000 and condo prices to $295,000 in May, according to Canopy. The association also reported a 6.2% increase in a year to 12,619 homes for sale — the highest inventory level in a decade.

“While affordability remains a challenge for many buyers, inventory has reached its highest level since before the pandemic, giving consumers more choices and flexibility than they’ve had in years,” said Canopy Realtor Association President Joan Goode.

A sweeping federal bipartisan bill designed to make housing more affordable became law this weekend, encouraging homebuilding and putting limits on corporations buying homes.

Still, optimism toward homeownership isn’t high when rent, food and household prices rise faster than pay.

“It goes up,” said Sharon Irby, who rents in Rock Hill. “Nonstop. Every month, every year, every six months — it’s going up.”

Complicated fixes for affordable housing

People who own homes are the only ones who can bring down prices, Hayden said.

The COVID pandemic, Irby said, drew a hard line between people who already owned homes and people who didn’t. People who lost jobs as prices rose weren’t able to afford homes, she said, and then mortgage rates increased to lock many people out of buying.

Irby pays more than twice what she did before moving from Texas two years ago, from a rented home to an apartment in Rock Hill.

She and her husband have been looking at loan options to buy a home, but the prospect feels “impossible nowadays.”

Other options like manufactured or affordable housing projects could help, she said, but neighbors often don’t like them. Pushback from people wanting to protect property values for the homes they own can derail plans for cheaper options.

The frustrating part for people who rent but would like to buy is that in many cases, rent isn’t much cheaper than a mortgage, Irby said.

“If you want a roof over your head,” she said, “you’ve got to pay it.”