What does it mean for an area to be an affordable place to live? On the surface, it’s an easy question to answer: the average person who lives there can afford a good living standard, without breaking the bank or making too many personal sacrifices. In Sanford and Lee County, our quality of life is high, and our costs are generally low; something we at SAGA are always reminding those considering investment in our community.
One of our community’s biggest challenges when it comes to affordability, however, is housing. On the surface, our housing costs are very competitive. The HUD Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom home in Lee County is $1,136 a month, down 3% since last year and substantially lower than either Chatham or Moore counties. The picture is seemingly just as rosy for those looking to buy a home; according to Redfin, the average sale price of a home in Lee County in January 2026 was $298,000, down 8.6% from a year prior. Compare that to an average of $374,000 in North Carolina, and $423,000 nationally.
While these are lower dollar amounts than for much of the region, the state, and the country, price is only part of the affordability equation. The other half is people’s ability to pay. According to the Federal Reserve, median household income in Lee County in 2024, the last year with publicly available data, was $71,876. That means, even with the price of a home below the state and national averages, the median family can expect to spend more than four times their annual income to afford the average house in Lee County. Financial advisors cite a 2.5x to 3.5x ratio of income to home prices as financially prudent, leaving the majority of Lee County families in the uncomfortable position of needing to financially overextend to afford a home. And of course, higher household debt burdens and interest rates can push the American Dream of home ownership further out of reach.
Thankfully, there is a proven way to lower the cost of homes: build new ones. In just the past month, SAGA has celebrated with two developers as they cut the ribbon on new housing developments in Sanford, adding hundreds of new units when complete. It may seem inevitable that housing costs only ever go up, but builders in our community have responded by leveraging a fundamental law of economics: when supply goes up, prices come down. Building new housing stock offsets rising costs and inflation, even letting costs fall. While many communities are caught in a vicious cycle of stagnant or contracting housing supply driving up higher prices, Sanford and Lee County are seeing the opposite.
This push for affordability has significant benefits to our community beyond the financial, both for current residents and newcomers. Abundant and attainable housing options give current residents flexibility as their needs change, letting them upsize or downsize as needed. Affordable houses mean young people fresh out of school don’t need to leave home to find reasonable housing as they begin their careers and give them the chance to get on the property ladder earlier in life. And less expensive housing makes it easier to attract new investors to our community, as they are confident their employees can find quality homes without having to cope with a steepening housing market.
Of course, when new housing developments are announced and created, there are often questions and concerns from the community. We at SAGA occasionally encounter hesitance towards new developments, with residents concerned that building more housing causes crowding and traffic while only benefiting newcomers. Though new housing developments do mean our leaders need to keep an eye on infrastructure capacity, building helps keep our community vibrant and accessible. Continuing to update and prudently expand Sanford and Lee County’s housing stock, while conserving our area’s farmland and natural spaces, is essential to ensuring our community remains a place people can afford to live and enjoy.