Redfin Report: Even With a 20% Wage Increase, Less Than 1% of Homes in Phoenix Will Be Affordable to Teachers

SEATTLE, May 9, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- (NASDAQ: RDFN) -- Of the 14,406 homes currently for sale in Phoenix, only 0.5 percent are affordable on the average local teacher's annual salary of $45,965, according to a new report from Redfin (www.redfin.com), the next-generation real estate brokerage. Last week, following a six-day teacher strike in Phoenix, Arizona legislators approved a 20 percent wage increase for teachers across the state. Once those increases are in effect, the share of homes affordable to Phoenix teachers will more than double to 1.1 percent.

"A 20-percent wage increase is a small victory in the national fight for fair compensation for teachers," said Redfin chief economist Nela Richardson. "However, in today's housing affordability crisis, teachers still lack the opportunity to become homeowners and investors in the communities they serve. We still have a long way to go to close the homeownership gap, giving more teachers and other public servants the chance to achieve the American dream."

The approved raises will increase the average Phoenix teacher's maximum home-buying budget from $130,000 to $170,000 by the time they've been fully awarded in 2022.

The wage increases come at a critical time. The share of homes affordable to teachers across 28 metros has fallen from 19.7% percent in 2016 to 11.5 percent in 2018. With the lowest average teacher salary, Phoenix ranked second-to-last in Redfin's latest teacher affordability analysis, with only Denver coming in behind.

Here is Redfin's 2018 ranking of the most affordable metros for teachers:

To read the full report, complete with a methodology and a downloadable data set, visit the following link: https://www.redfin.com/blog/2018/05/even-with-a-20-wage-increase-less-than-1-of-homes-in-phoenix-will-be-affordable-to-teachers.html

About Redfin
Redfin (www.redfin.com) is the next-generation real estate brokerage, combining its own full-service agents with modern technology to redefine real estate in the consumer's favor. Founded by software engineers, Redfin has the country's #1 brokerage website and offers a host of online tools to consumers, including the Redfin Estimate, the automated home-value estimate with the industry's lowest published error rate for listed homes. Homebuyers and sellers enjoy a full-service, technology-powered experience from Redfin real estate agents, while saving thousands in commissions. Redfin serves more than 80 major metro areas across the U.S. The company has closed more than $60 billion in home sales.

For more information or to contact a local Redfin real estate agent, visit www.redfin.com. To learn about housing market trends and download data, visit the Redfin Data Center. To be added to Redfin's press release distribution list, subscribe here. To view Redfin's press center, click here.

SOURCE Redfin

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