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$93,400 salary needed to afford Seattle-area mortgage

That's assuming you have a 20 percent down payment.
Credit: KING 5 News
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You needed to get a pay raise of $11,000 in the past year to keep up with the rising home prices in the Seattle area.

That's the result of a quarterly report by mortgage and consumer loan information company HSH.com. The Seattle Times was first to break down the report.

The site says a household needs to make an annual income of $93,418.01 to afford a monthly mortgage on a $478,500 home in the Seattle area. And that's assuming a 20 percent down payment, leaving a monthly payment of $2,179.75.

The income needed a year ago was about $82,000.

For households that can only afford a 10 percent down payment, the annual income needed to afford a mortgage today jumps to $109,458.35.

The Times reports that the Seattle area stretches from Tacoma to Snohomish for this survey, so people living in the suburbs generally don't need to make as much. But for those living in the Seattle city limits, the income needed to afford a mortgage jumps to $140,000 a year.

The tight housing market has become such a concern, some potential sellers who are afraid of being able to buy another home are, instead, staying put and renovating.

The ten most expensive metro areas in the country:

1. San Jose, Calif.

2. San Francisco

3. San Diego

4. Los Angeles

5. New York City

6. Boston

7. Seattle

8. Washington, DC

9. Denver

10. Portland

The 10 least expensive metro areas in the country:

1. Pittsburgh

2. Cleveland

3. Indianapolis

4. Oklahoma City

5. Memphis

6. Louisville

7. Cincinnati

8. Birmingham, Ala.

9. St. Louis

10. Buffalo

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