State, Inland region housing affordability drops

Housing affordability in California shrunk during the first quarter, the result of record high prices and interest rates.

Twenty-four percent of the state’s households could afford the $797,000 median-priced home in the first quarter of this year, down from 25 percent in fourth-quarter 2021 and 27 percent year-over-year, according to data released Tuesday by the California Association of Realtors.

An annual income of at least $158,000 was needed to make monthly mortgage payments of $3,950. Those figures include principal, interest and taxes on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage with an interest rate of just under four percent.

Thirty-two percent of California’s home buyers were able to purchase the $640,000 median-priced condo or townhome during the first three months of 2022. A minimum annual income of $126,800 was required to make a monthly payment of $3,170, according to the Los Angeles trade association.

In the Inland Empire, 31 percent of all households could afford a median-priced home of $560,000 during the firsts three months of this year, down from 35 percent in the fourth quarter of 2021 and 39 percent year-over-year.

A minimum annual income of $111,200 would be needed to make monthly mortgage payments of $2,780, including taxes and insurance, on the median Inland property, according to the association.