ULI Terwilliger Center’s Home Attainability Index is a data resource tool for understanding the extent to which a housing market is providing a range of choices attainable to the regional workforce.
According to ULI’s website the data can help:
- Identify gaps in home attainability and provide better context to understand residential markets
- Explicitly identify and highlight racial, socioeconomic, and intraregional disparities and inequities
- Enable national and regional comparisons to inform housing production, policy, and financing decisions
The 2025 iteration includes updated data, an easy-to-use Excel tool, and a comprehensive interactive map that tracks housing data at the tract, county, and MSA levels.
Key takeaways include:
- Cost burdened households are growing across the country – nearly every major market has significantly more cost-burdened households earning under $50,000 annually.
- Housing Attainability varies based on region – the most attainable housing is in the Northern region of the country, with 81% of homes affordable to purchase by households at 120% AMI, Indiana falls in the Midwest which is the second most attainable region at 73% of homes affordable to buy.
- Cost to Own versus Cost to Rent – it is relatively cheaper to own in the Southeast.
- Downpayments are a barrier to home ownership – even in affordable metros, households earning 120% AMI, need to save for 10 years to afford a downpayment.
- Increase in new home prices – most parts of the country have seen gradual growth since 2020, however, the mountain west area of the country has seen the most increase.
Click here to download the excel Home Attainability Index.
Click here to visit the Home Attainability Interactive Map.
Click here to view ULI Indiana – Home Attainability Index Presentation Slides.
Sources:
HQ TC Newsletter November 2025
Housing Attainability & Affordability Course
2025 Terwilliger Center Home Attainability Index | ULI Knowledge Finder