In 2024, homes for sale in the Philly region were more affordable than across the country as a whole. But they weren’t affordable.

Last year was the second-least affordable year to buy a home since at least 2012, according to a report by Redfin, the online real estate brokerage. Buying a home was only slightly more affordable in 2024 than in 2023.

But in both 2024 and 2023, a household making the typical U.S. income would have had to spend about 42% of that income on monthly housing costs to afford the typical home for sale. In 2024, the typical U.S. household made $83,782, and the typical home cost $429,734.

For the fourth straight year, the income households needed to comfortably afford payments on the typical home was higher than the income a typical household made. Homebuyers would have had to make $116,782 per year in 2024 — the highest income level needed since Redfin started keeping track in 2012.

“For many Americans, buying a home remains more out of reach than ever, and that’s unlikely to change anytime soon,” Elijah de la Campa, a senior economist at Redfin, said in a statement.

» READ MORE: Households in the Philly area would need six-figure down payments to comfortably afford a typical home

Homes are considered affordable if a household spends no more than 30% of its income on monthly housing costs. Nationally, median monthly housing costs were 30% of income or lower throughout the 2010s, according to Redfin.

In the market that Redfin defines as Philadelphia and Delaware Counties and in the market Redfin defines as Montgomery, Chester, and Bucks Counties, the typical household would have had to spend roughly 33% of its income to own the typical home for sale in 2024.

So although the region was more affordable than the country as a whole, homes still weren’t affordable.

The country’s slight improvement in affordability from 2023 to 2024 was mostly because of slightly lower average mortgage rates last year, according to Redfin.

Home prices are expected to keep rising in 2025 because there aren’t enough homes for sale to meet demand. So more aspiring homeowners will keep renting instead of entering the market, de la Campa said.

In the region that Redfin defined as Philadelphia and Delaware Counties, the median household income was $72,681 in 2024, and the median home sale price was roughly $281,162.

In 2024, homebuyers paid a median of $1,985 per month for a home — less than the national median payment of $2,920. The region has one of the lowest monthly housing costs out of the 50 most populous metropolitan areas that Redfin analyzed.

Median monthly housing payments were only lower in Pittsburgh, Cleveland, St. Louis, and Detroit. Homebuyers paid the least in Detroit, where the median monthly payment was $1,354.

Compare that to the most expensive areas out of the 50 most populous metros. In the San Francisco and San Jose areas, homebuyers paid a median of more than $10,000 per month for homes that cost a median of more than $1.5 million.

In the combined markets of Montgomery, Chester, and Bucks Counties, homeowners spent a median of $3,429 per month in 2024. That’s roughly the same as in the Austin, Texas, region and the West Palm Beach, Fla., area.

The typical household in the combined market of Montgomery, Chester, and Bucks Counties made $123,187 per year, and the median home sale price there was $477,997.