Newlyweds Still Managing to Buy Homes, Survey Shows

Newlyweds, in increasing numbers, nationally are somehow managing to buy homes, according to a survey among readers of Modern Bride magazine.

Over the past two years, ownership of homes, condominiums and cooperatives among new families has increased by more than 15%. Despite higher mortgage rates and slowing of home construction, 42% of all newlyweds in the 1988 survey became homeowners, compared to 36.4% of 1987 respondents.

Buyers had an average household income of $40,800 while 18.6% earned between $50,000 and $75,000. Homes in the Pacific states were the least affordable, netting only 13.3% of the buyer-newlyweds while most sales, 20.5% and 20.2%, were in the Middle Atlantic and South Atlantic states, respectively.