"Wrong direction": Homes are now unaffordable in 4 of 10 U.S. counties

House hunters are increasingly getting priced out of the real estate action, with homeownership now out of reach for most people in more than 4 in 10 counties across the U.S., a new analysis shows.

Home prices jumped more than 10% in two-thirds of the 569 counties tracked by Attom Data Solutions, a provider of property data. All together, those counties represent about 250 million Americans, according to the research firm, which analyzed publicly recorded sales-deed data for counties that recorded the most real estate transactions between April and June. The number of counties where homeownership is now considered unaffordable jumped about 20% from a year earlier, rising to 242 counties in the second quarter compared with 205 in the year-earlier period. Attom said.