If each state received a grade based on its home ownership affordability, Connecticut would be at the bottom of the class, according to a homeownership affordability report recently released by Realtor.com.
For two consecutive years, Connecticut ranked 46 out of 51, including all U.S. states and Washington, D.C.
The report looks at criteria: homeownership affordability and the rate of housing construction, according to Realtor.com Senior Economist Joel Berner.
“For home building we look at the number of permitted units issued in 2025 and we compare that to the population of the state,” Berner said. “The other half is affordability metrics, so we look at the median earner in the state. We look at how much of their income would be eaten up by a mortgage on the median listed home in that state.”
In 2025, there were 7,000 home building permits filed in Connecticut, which amounts to half of a percent of the total filed permits nationwide last year, Berner said.
Another issue for Connecticut is the cost of the homes being built.
“Not pulling enough permits, not doing enough building when kind of adjusted to the size of the population,” Berner said. “Then when those homes get built, they're pretty expensive. They don't really compete with existing homes on price. So, there's not a whole lot of building happening, and what building is happening is happening at high price points, and so that's what's penalizing Connecticut in these rankings.”
Neighboring states, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New York, were also ranked among the bottom.
The only New England state to score above a D was Maine, which received a C-.
All of the low-ranking states were plagued by restrictive local zoning codes, which make it hard to construct more housing, limited land options and existing housing prices that are untenable for middle-income buyers, according to the report.
The top-ranking state was Indiana, where the median priced home is about $296,000 and the median income is about $71,000, according to the report.
But in recent years, state officials have touted strides to increase home ownership accessibility and affordable rental homes.
At a recent press conference, state Department of Housing Commissioner Seila Mosquera Bruno, discussed Connecticut’s Time to Own program, which provides a forgivable down payment assistance loan for first time homebuyers who qualify.
Since the program began in 2022, about 300 families have become first-time homeowners, Mosquera-Bruno said.
“Our mission is to ensure that residents have options, options for housing that is affordable to all different levels and to all different types of families,” Mosquera-Bruno said.
