IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
Only one in five California families could afford the state’s median home price – $822,320 – in 2022, a year-over-year drop of about five percent, according to the California Association of Realtors.
An annual income of at least $186,800 was needed to make monthly payments of $4,670, on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage with 5.47 percent interest, the Los Angeles-based trade association reported.
Those figures include principal, interest, and taxes.
The decline in affordability is being blamed on high prices caused by soaring interest rates, and it was spread across interest rates. Housing affordability for white/non-Hispanic households fell from 32 percent in 2021 to 26 percent last year, while only 12 percent of black and Hispanic/Latino households could afford the same median-priced home in 2022.
“The significant difference in housing affordability for Black and Hispanic/Latino households illustrates the homeownership gap and wealth disparity for communities of color, which could worsen as the economy slows and rates remain elevated in 2023,” the report states.
Asians fared better in housing affordability: 31 percent could afford a median-priced home last year, although that was a six-percent decline from 2021, the association reported.
