UK Study Indicates Affordable Housing in Lexington Is Ample
Jul 13th, 09
Amid concerns about the availability of affordable housing in Lexington,the University of Kentucky Center for Business and Economic Research (CBER), part of the Gatton College of Business and Economics,today released encouraging results from its "Housing Affordability" study.
The study shows that there is ample affordable housing for the average Fayette County resident and that those in key occupations such as teachers and nurses have an exceptional number of choices in their housing. According to the results of the study, teachers in the Lexington area whose average salary is $44,000 per year, can afford nearly 30 percent of the homes currently on the market in Fayette County. Even more encouraging, families making the average income of around $47,000 per year can afford almost half of the homes currently on the market in the Lexington area.
In releasing the report, Kenneth Troske, Sturgill Endowed Professor of Economics and director of CBER, said, "This is great news for the Lexington area. An average family can pay $1,175 per month toward housing, stay in the healthy affordability range of 30 percent of their income and have many options to choose from in Lexington."
The UK study examined the availability of owner-occupied and rental housing over a nine-year period in Fayette County (1998-2007). The study used the widely accepted definition of "affordable" as spending not more than 30 percent of a household's yearly income on housing. It further expanded on the question of affordable housing by focusing on the availability of affordable homes on the market, not just the cost of those homes versus local incomes.
According to the CBER report, which also investigated low-income housing availability, "affordable housing exists in Fayette County even forfamilies with very low incomes." Expanding on this finding, the study noted that any additional programs for affordable housing "would only supplant existingFederal programs and would not affect the ability of low-income individuals to live in FayetteCounty."
In summary, UK's Troske said, "Lexington has a strong supply of affordable housing for its citizens from all walks of life."
The study was commissioned by the Home Builders Association of Lexington and the Lexington-Bluegrass Association of Realtors.
CBER is the applied business and economic research branch of UK's Gatton College. Housed within the Department of Economics, CBER has a long history of conducting applied economic studies and is widely considered the leading source of information on the Kentucky economy.
Click here to view the full report.
