There’s another growing cost that brokers are going to have to spend an increasing amount of time preparing buyers to pay. Homeowners association (HOA) fees and condo fees have also soared, and a new study from LendingTree puts a spotlight on how much homeowners are paying in big cities.
In the 100 largest metro areas, 17.5 million homeowners are paying HOA or condo fees as of 2024. This is 31.8% of homeowners in those areas. Among those, 2.6 million are paying fees in excess of $500 a month, or $6,000 a year.
Matt Schulz (pictured top), chief consumer finance analyst at LendingTree, said the amount of money being paid in fees is staggering.
“The amount of money that we’re talking about, where some people are paying $500-plus a month for an HOA fee, that’s just a wild number,” Schulz told Mortgage Professional America. “That’s a really significant amount of money. And chances are, if you’re paying that much, you’re probably living in a high-end community or an upscale condo. But still, $500 a month is a lot of money.”
Educating homebuyers on fees
For buyers planning on living in big cities, the odds of paying higher fees are much greater. New York City has the highest percentage of homeowners paying fees of $500 a month or more at 53.4%. It is followed by Honolulu (52.4%) and Miami (39.5%). In NYC, 28% of homeowners are paying more than $1,000 a month in fees, with the median fee in the city at $558.
