> On Thursday, one of the nation’s largest rooftop solar companies, Sunnova Energy, asked the California Public Utilities Commission to let it directly compete with investor-owned utilities to provide electricity to homes in new residential developments as a private “micro-utility” — a business model that is illegal in much of the United States.
> Sunnova is asking the state utilities commission to allow it to become a micro-utility under the same state law that allowed the one in Kirkwood. Mr. Berger said his company would work with developers to install solar panels and batteries as part of home construction in developments with fewer than 2,000 units.
Yes, prices are elevated, but nowhere near the point any median price to median income analysis suggests.
The flaw in the price to income ratio is the cost of borrowing (interest rates). Most home buyers consider what they can “afford” by comparing their monthly income against their monthly mortgage payment.
For this reason, a more accurate way to consider the cost of home ownership is through various affordability indices which take interest rates and other borrowing conditions into account. Calculated Risk [1] and First American [2] do an excellent job of this.
A rise in interest rates will likely stifle current home price appreciate unless wage growth offsets this increase at the same time.