Provided they can qualify for a mortgage, the latest round ofhome price data suggests that home affordability is at a high forrecent years, according to data taken from Fiserv's Case Shiller Indexes.

“Housing affordability has improved dramatically because of declines in both prices andmortgage interest rates,” said David Stiff, chief economist atFiserv. “The monthly mortgage payment for a median-pricedsingle-family home is now $700, compared to $1,140 in 2006 – adecline of nearly 40%.

“Nationally, purchase mortgage payments now account for only 13percent of monthly median family income, the lowest percentage onrecord (since 1971), and compared to 23 percent in the firstquarter of 2006.”

The company reported that single-family home prices dropped 5.9%in 2011's second quarter compared to a year ago and that pricesfell in 340 out of 384 metro areas, with 302 metros hitting newhome price lows.

The company said it projects that home prices across the U.S.will decline another 3.6% by the second quarter of 2012, beforerising by 2.4 percent by the second quarter of 2013%.

“Although homes have become much less expensive, housing demandremains depressed with existing home sales back to 1998 levels,averaging 4.3 million units per year since June,” Stiff added,explaining the continued low prices. “Many households cannotfinance first-time or trade-up home purchases to take advantage oflower home prices because of much stricter mortgage lendingstandards. But even households with access to mortgage credit arehesitant to buy homes while job growth is weak and consumerconfidence is low.”