Homeownership is growing increasingly out of reach for the average American — even if you earn an above-average salary.

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The current spring housing market has been described as “a nobody’s market” as sellers cling onto their homes through fear of losing their low interest rates and buyers simply can’t afford the extortionate house prices.

“Affordability conditions will have to improve drastically, likely via both lower home prices and falling mortgage rates, to see buyers return to the market en masse,” Hannah Jones, a data analyst at Realtor.com told MarketWatch.

And while you could wait for the market conditions to change, there are other ways to get into real estate that don’t necessarily require a six-figure salary.

Running the numbers

Jones ran the numbers and found that to afford a $500,000 home, you need to make more than $140,000 a year.

To come up with that sum, she started with that $500,000 price. Assuming you have a 10% down payment of $50,000, lock in a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage at 6.32% and pay a 1.72% tax and insurance rate, your monthly payment will add up to $3,508.

Now, considering that most lenders require you to keep your housing expenses down to around 30% of your gross income, Jones calculated that you’d have to earn $140,312 a year in order to meet that target.

You might say $500,000 seems like a lot of house, but consider that the median national home price for active listings climbed to $424,000 in March, according to Realtor.com.

Using the same calculation above — a 10% down payment, a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage at 6.32% and a tax and insurance rate of 1.72% — your monthly housing costs would be $2,969. To afford that, you’d have to earn around $118,760 a year.