According to a research conducted by real estate agency Redfin, homebuyers in the U.S. must earn six-figure wages in order to purchase a median-priced property.

As house prices remain high and the average monthly mortgage payment has grown by more than 45% over the same time last year to $2,682, the yearly wage necessary to finance such a home has risen from $73,668 to $107,281. Over the same time span, average hourly salaries have climbed nominally by 5%, while inflation continues to erode consumer buying power.

“High rates are pushing buyers to reconsider their choices, as many of them are no longer able to afford the property they want in the area they desire,” said Redfin Agent Chelsea Traylor, who works in Washington, D.C. “If you had a $900,000 budget just a few months ago, higher interest rates mean it’s now approximately $700,000 – and sellers aren’t decreasing their prices enough to compensate. As a result, purchasers are looking for more cheap properties outside of the city.”

Four of the five metropolitan areas with the fastest increases in the annual income necessary to purchase a median-priced home are in Florida. Buyers in North Port must make $131,535 to afford a $3,288 payment each month, while those in Miami, Tampa, and Cape Coral must also earn six figures.

Meanwhile, the five most expensive urban regions are all in California, with purchasers in San Francisco needing a $402,821 wage to afford a $10,071 monthly payment. According to a prior analysis from the National Association of Home Builders, California has all of the least affordable real estate in the country.

According to Census Bureau data, Florida saw the nation’s biggest net domestic migration between July of 2020 and July 2021, with over 220,000 individuals relocating to the state. In terms of population decline, Florida was followed by Texas and Arizona, while New York, California, and Illinois topped the nation.

Traylor mentioned that some purchasers are waiting for prices or interest rates to fall before purchasing a property. “I’m asking customers to consider the long term,” she added. “Price drops are unlikely in the long term, so purchasing a home today — assuming you can manage the monthly payment — can still help you grow wealth over time, especially if you expect to live in it for several years. Despite the fact that interest rates are high, another great thing about buying today is the absence of competition and the ability to negotiate with sellers.”

A year ago, homebuyers in the 16 metropolitan regions analyzed by Redfin only required six-figure earnings to afford a median-priced property. However, comparable situations exist in 45 cities today.

Recent losses in house affordability coincide with one of the most persistent hikes in mortgage rates in decades. According to Freddie Mac statistics, the 30-year fixed mortgage rate has been below 3% for the most of the last two years. The rate increased from roughly 3% earlier this year to more than 7% this month, with most of the increases happening after the Federal Reserve boosted target interest rates at four straight 0.75% increments.

Rep. James Comer (R-KY) stated that in the new Congress, the House Oversight Committee will focus on waste, fraud, and abuse.

Comer told Chuck Todd on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday that the GOP-led committee will look into the billions of dollars in COVID-related spending, accusing Dems of exploiting it to focus on left-wing social concerns.

“We’re going to look into 40 to 50 different things,” Comer promised. “We have the capability; the committee will have 25 members, and the workforce will number close to 70… And, let’s face it, the Dems on the House Oversight Committee haven’t investigated anything in this administration in the last two years. They examined the Washington Commanders football team, and we had multiple hearings on social matters that have nothing to do with the Oversight Committee, such as abortion.”

“We believe that hundreds of billions of tax payer dollars, if not trillions, of dollars have been squandered in the name of COVID over the last three years—spanning two administrations,” Comer stated.

“We want to hold hearings on it. We want to try to figure out what happened with the fraudulent unemployment insurance money, the fraudulent PPP loan money, some of the money that is being spent for local and state governments in the COVID stimulus funds… these are going to be priorities for us as a committee,” he added.

Bloomberg’s editorial board reported in March that the US Secret Service assessed that $100 billion in COVID relief payments had been released owing to fraud, unethical transactions, or to deceased persons. Another Department of Labor analysis discovered that more than $87 billion in COVID-related unemployment compensation were unlawfully paid. The Small Business Administration disbursed about $6 billion to beneficiaries accused of fraud. The IRS also allegedly sent more than 2 million stimulus checks totaling more than $3.5 billion to deceased individuals.

Earlier this week, Comer blasted high-profile Democrats for tainting congressional investigations and pledged reform when Republicans take control.

“I don’t feel congressional investigations really have a lot of credibility today,” Comer said in an interview with Punchbowl News. “That’s Adam Schiff’s fault. However, both parties are to responsible for previous investigations. But I’m determined to alter that.”

Democratic Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts and nine other Dem senators urged the Postal Service to establish a long-term goal of electrifying virtually all of its delivery vehicles in order to cut “dangerous” carbon emissions. However, the agency previously discovered that purchasing electric vehicles (EVs) would cost more than $2 billion more than replacing its fleet with new gasoline-powered trucks.

According to a letter, the 10 Senate Democrats instructed the Postal Service to use cash included in the Democrats’ climate spending package to go beyond its prior objective of electrifying 40% of its vehicles and instead electrify “at least 95%” of its fleet. According to a February analysis, the Postal Service estimated that it would pay $11.6 billion over 20 years to electrify its whole fleet and $9.3 billion to acquire a small part of EVs in addition to gas-powered trucks.

The senators wrote, “With Inflation Reduction Act funds, USPS should set its sights higher and strive for a minimum of 95 percent electric postal delivery fleet that would decrease harmful greenhouse-gas emissions and help usher in the new age of ubiquitous clean automobile technology.”

According to The Washington Post, the Postal Service committed to boost its vehicle electrification efforts in July after Washington, D.C.,16 states, and four environmental groups have filed lawsuits over the service’s past plans to electrify only 10% of its fleet. Originally, the service intended to update its fleet by making 90% of its new cars gas-powered.

President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law in August, allocating $3 billion to assist the Postal Service in purchasing more electric vehicles, including $1.29 billion for new electric delivery vehicles and about $1.71 billion for buying and installing any related infrastructure that would be required. The Postal Service paid $2.95 billion in March for 50,000 new cars, 10,000 of which were electric.

During his first week in office, Biden promised that all post office cars and the entire government fleet would be electric.

According to an August letter, 15 Democratic attorneys general and Democratic California AG Rob Bonta demanded that the Postal Service stop buying gas-powered delivery vehicles because the emissions that were produced by such trucks disproportionately harm minority or low-income communities.