L.A. housing ‘least affordable’ in U.S.

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No, it’s not just your imagination, L.A. housing is really expensive: Curbed L.A. informs us tonight that Los Angeles housing is officially the least affordable in America.

Here’s the nugget: ‘With L.A.’s median household income at $58,319, only 3% of recent home sales are considered affordable.’

The research comes from Forbes.com, which ranks America’s least affordable housing markets as follows: Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Miami, New York.

Here’s more on the methodology, from Forbes.com: ‘For example, in the first quarter of 2001, 42.3% of homes sold in Los Angeles were available to the median earning household. But in the first quarter of 2007, only 3% of homes sold there were affordable to those households earning the median income. This is based on data from the National Assn. of Home Builders (NAHB) and Wells Fargo ... that assumes a 10% down payment, a 6.1% mortgage, and tax and insurance costs calculated by the Federal Housing Finance Board.’

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Photo Credit: L.A. Times