The Hidden Housing Cost: How HOAs Are Becoming a ‘Shadow Mortgage’

With sticky inflation and the cost of labor and materials continuing to increase, HOA fees are rising as well.

“This is absolutely a shadow mortgage,” Meleca-Voigt says. “It’s actually worse than a mortgage. If you get a mortgage with a fixed rate, you know what you pay and you can work around it.” Karenr/Dreamstime/TNS

By Linda Bell Bankrate.com

Homebuyers often focus on home prices and mortgage rates when thinking about affordability. But for millions of homeowners, another housing cost is creeping higher and quietly reshaping the math: homeowners association (HOA) fees.