After three consecutive quarters of modest improvement, housing affordability worsened in the second quarter as higher mortgage rates, rising construction costs and economic uncertainty weighed on the market, according to the latest data from the NAHB/Wells Fargo Cost of Housing Index (CHI). The CHI results from the second quarter of 2026 show that a family earning the nation’s median income of $106,800 needed 34% of its income to cover the mortgage payment on a median-priced new home. …The percentage of a family’s income needed to purchase a new home rose from 32% in the first quarter of 2026 to 34% in the second quarter, driven by a more than 30-basis point rise in the average mortgage rate and a 2% increase in the median price of a new home.