High housing cost burdens resulted in a “D” rating for CT on the Housing and Homeownership portion of the Corporation for Enterprise Development’s 2012 Assets & Opportunity Scorecard.  CT ranked near the bottom on the Scorecard in homeownership opportunities for minorities and lower-income residents and for housing costs burden for owners and renters. 

The Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) issues an Assets & Opportunity Scorecard every few years to analyze the financial security of residents in every state. The scorecard looks at 5 areas: financial assets & income; businesses & jobs; hosing & homeownership; healthcare; and education. Overall, CT ranked 26, but for Housing and Homeownership, CT ranked 45th and was given a grade of “D”. 

Below are a few of the outcome measures and results for CT:

• Homeownership by Race – Rank 48. Homeownership rates for whites are 2.1x higher than other races.
• Homeownership by Income- Rank 45. Homeownership rates are 2.6x higher for the top 20% of earners.
• Housing Cost Burden for Homeowners- Rank 44.  In CT the average household uses 41.4% of its household income to pay for the costs of owning a home (mortgage payments, utilities, etc)
• Housing Cost Burden for Renters – Rank 39. In CT the average renter uses 53.7% of his or her household income to cover the cost of renting.
• Affordability of Homes (value/income) - Rank 42.  The ratio of median housing value to median household income in CT is 4.5, meaning that the median housing value is worth 4.5 times what the median income is.

On the positive side, CT’s homeownership rate is 68%, earning a rank of 26.

The Assets & Opportunity Scorecard is available here. 
For the Hartford Courant Article about the scorecard click here.