State, local housing affordability declines

Twenty nine percent of all households in California could afford a median-priced home – $553,260 – during the second quarter of this year, according to a report.

That was a three percent drop from the first quarter and a two percent decline year-over-year, the Los Angeles-based California Association of Realtors revealed in its recent quarterly report on housing affordability in California.

A minimum yearly income of $110,890 was needed in order to make monthly mortgage payments of $2,770, assuming a 30-year mortgage at a fixed rate of 4.09 percent.

The drop in affordability was blamed on a “severe” shortage of homes for sale coupled with high demand. The state’s housing index has been below 40 percent for 17 consecutive months, the report stated.

In San Bernardino County, 51 percent of the region’s households during the second quarter could afford the median price – $269,640 – with monthly payments of $1,350 and an annual income of $54,050.

In Riverside County, the median price of $380,000 was within reach of 39 percent of the county’s households, based on monthly mortgage payments of $1,900 and a yearly income of $76,170.

Year-over-year, housing affordability was down five percent in San Bernardino County and two percent in Riverside County, according to the report.