Houstonians are struggling to buy necessities and homes as higher taxes loom

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Houston has often held a reputation as a cheap place to buy a home.

Steve Sherman of Rice University's Kinder Institute for Urban Research said that's not the case anymore.

The institute analyzes trends in Houston's housing market in its annual "The State of Housing in Harris County and Houston" report.

The 2024 edition is the institute's fifth-annual version.

It found that home ownership in the area is getting more expensive.

ABC13 spoke with Houstonians on Thursday afternoon, and they all agreed with that conclusion.

"I have two jobs, and I can barely pay my rent," Emmanvella Fowlks said.

Her response was "absolutely not" when asked if she anticipated buying a home in the near future.

The report, which included 7,500 surveys, indicated that most people still view owning a home as a major milestone.

With that being said, there's a big difference between wanting to buy a home and actually being able to afford one.

"The median price of a home in Harris County increased about 43% from 2018 to 2022," Sherman said. "Meanwhile, household buying power increased only 2%."

The average price of a home in Houston was $335,000 in 2023, according to the report.

It was $315,000 in Harris County during the same period.

The study found that only seven out of 143 neighborhoods in Houston and Harris County are considered affordable for a household, making the area's average annual income $71,009.

That number only increases to 53 out of 143 neighborhoods if a household earns around $100,000 per year.

The Kinder Institute report indicates that home ownership in Houston and Harris County has been declining since the early 2000s.

It also goes into statistics regarding the diversity of homeowners in the area.

For example, it found a lower percentage of Black homeowners in Harris County in 2022 (14%) than in 2010 (15%).

It also goes into the growth of suburban populations in Fort Bend County and Montgomery County.

You can read "The 2024 State of Housing in Harris County and Houston" in its entirety by clicking here.

These bleak numbers come at a time when the City of Houston is discussing the possibility of raising property taxes to make up for a budget shortfall.

Additionally, HISD is looking to pass a multibillion dollar bond in November.

Not to mention the inflation we've been dealing with for the last few years.

That inflation has cooled down, but the Bureau of Labor Statistics said things like the cost of food in our region was still more expensive at the end of August than it was in June.

"I think it's expensive to do so," Molly Hill said when asked about living in Houston these days. "It hasn't been any more expensive than it is now."

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