Where Home Buyers Need Deep Pockets

For many young people across the United States, the prospect of home ownership is becoming an increasingly distant dream. A recent Unison report found that it's more costly than ever to purchase a new home with coastal cities worst affected. Nearly all large U.S. cities have seen their property prices increase steadily over the past ten years with some such as San Francisco and Seattle recording 10 percent year-over-year increases.

Unison took a look at the scale of problem facing young house-hunters by calculating the salary needed to purchase a home in the country's major cities. It found that prospective buyers would need highest salary in New York where an average home would require a salary of $418,000 today, the least affordable city nationwide. According to the research, somebody living in the New York metropolitan area would need to save for 12 years to purchase their own house or apartment. When it comes to America's least affordable homes, San Francisco is in second place with a salary of $349,650 necessary while in Boston, someone would need to earn $199,755.

It isn't all negative, however, and it will certainly come as a relief to know that some cities are bucking the trend of high property prices. Chicago is a good example with the salary required to purchase a home there just $64,948. The situation in Dallas is also relatively positive with the necessary earnings coming to $48,887. At the very opposite end of the scale, Detroit is one of the cheapest major U.S. cities for home-buyers. Someone searching for a house or an apartment there would only need a salary of $8,328.