Advertisement

Inland Empire Market 10th in Affordability

Share

The Riverside-San Bernardino residential market ranked 10th among the nation’s 150 largest metropolitan areas during the fourth quarter of 1988 in affordability and resale activity, according to the new Merrill Lynch Realty index.

Other Southern California areas and their rankings are: Oxnard-Ventura, 31; Anaheim-Santa Ana, 50; Los Angeles-Long Beach, 56 and Santa Barbara, 143.

The survey defined “affordability” as a composite of average household income, the mean price of an existing single family house, and local mortgage interest rates.

Advertisement

Houston ranked first in the survey.

Riverside Up 9.6%

Riverside scored well, the survey said, because the average annual household income of $45,100 was above the $42,104 needed to qualify for an 80% loan on the average house in the area. In Houston, the average annual household income was $55,200 and the income necessary to qualify was $24,792.

The traditional benchmark is that the annual mortgage payment cannot be more than 28% of household income.

The survey said that during 1989, the mean sales price of an existing Riverside house will increase about 9.6%.

Oxnard-Ventura scored well on affordability because the average household income of $56,200 was above the $48,542 needed to quality for a mortgage. During 1989, the mean price of an existing house will increase about 8.1%, the survey said.

The Anaheim-Santa Ana market ranked first among all 150 markets surveyed in terms of the percent change in resales from the fourth quarter of 1987 to the fourth quarter of 1988. Sales of existing detached houses were 30,000, up 37.3% from 1987.

The mean price of an existing house in this market will increase about 7.9% the survey said.

Advertisement

L.A. Affordability

Los Angeles did not score well on affordability because the average annual household income of $52,700 was below the $66,892 needed to quality for a mortgage. The survey forecast that during 1989, the mean price of an existing house will increase about 7.9%

Santa Barbara did not score well on affordability either, because the average household income of $54,200 was below the $72,502 needed to qualify on a mortgage. The mean price of an existing house will increase about 7.9%, the survey said.

Advertisement