Houston home buyers are experiencing sticker shock. Among the country’s 50 biggest metro areas, Houston saw a 38.8 percent year-over-year increase in the typical monthly mortgage payment, according to a new report from real estate platform Zillow.

By the numbers, that figure is based on principal and interest for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage with a 20 percent down payment. (That compares with a nationwide jump of 38 percent.) The typical monthly payment here is $1,144; Houston ranks 21st overall among metros

This tracks with a just-released report from HAR noting that fewer households throughout the Greater Houston area could afford to purchase the median-priced home in the first quarter of 2022.

Elsewhere in Texas, Austin saw the biggest rise in mortgage payments from March 2021 to this March 2022 among the country’s 50 biggest metro areas. The report shows a year-over-over change of 63.5 percent in the typical Austin-area mortgage payment. Zillow pegged the Austin metro area’s typical monthly mortgage payment at $2,299.

“Home shoppers are facing a one-two affordability punch this spring: Quickly rising mortgage rates are compounding affordability challenges that have been brought on by record home value growth,” Zillow says.

Other major Texas metro areas experienced year-to-year spikes in the typical monthly mortgage payment, but not nearly at the level witnessed in Austin:

• Dallas-Fort Worth ranked 10th with a 48 percent year-over-year increase in the typical monthly mortgage payment ($1,445).
• San Antonio ranked 16th with a 42.8 percent year-over-year increase in the typical monthly mortgage payment ($1,256).

Among the 50 biggest metro areas, Washington, D.C., registered the lowest year-over-year increase in the typical monthly mortgage payment, 27.4 percent, the Zillow report shows.

“Higher mortgage rates were anticipated this year, but the speed of their rise has been breathtaking,” says Jeff Tucker, Zillow’s senior economist. “Record-low mortgage rates had been an affordability lifeline during the pandemic, keeping monthly payments in check even while prices climbed quickly.”

“March was the biggest test yet of whether enough buyers can meet the new asking prices to keep home values growing at a record pace, and the answer was ‘So far, yes,’” Tucker adds. “There will be a point when the cost of buying a home deters enough buyers to bring price growth back down to earth, but for now, there is plenty of fuel in the tank as home-shopping season kicks into gear.”