The Buyer score.
Weighted for entry cost and downside risk — the two things buyers care about most. Growth and momentum ride in the back seat.
What goes in, at what weight.
Price-to-income pressure, payment burden at current rates, and rent-vs-own crossover.
Overvaluation pressure, household stress, and market-clearing stress.
Price trajectory, migration & job quality, supply response.
Inventory shift, days-on-market shift, price acceleration.
Rising prices help sellers, not buyers.
Buyers care most about entry cost and downside risk. Compared to the composite, the Buyer score leans harder on risk and lighter on growth — rising prices are a negative for someone trying to enter, so celebrating appreciation with a higher score would be dishonest. Avoiding a bust matters more than catching an uptrend.
A starting point, not a buy signal.
Not a recommendation to buy. Not financial advice. Not a price prediction. Coastal markets score lower on affordability than they feel — that's the truth, not a model defect.