1 in 10 Bay Area Households Can Afford a House

Only one in 10 households in the San Francisco Bay Area could afford a median-priced, single-family detached home in April, the lowest figure since records started being kept and the worst in the state, the California Assn. of Realtors reported today.

To qualify for a mortgage loan on a median-priced home of $261,520 in April, a Bay Area household needed a minimum annual income of $85,904 and faced monthly payments of $2,148, assuming a 20% down payment, the association said.

San Francisco’s affordability index was down slightly from March, when 11% of households could afford a median-priced home of $249,508. In April, 1988, 22% of local households could afford a median-priced home, then $195,598.

‘Market ... Crippled’

The area’s housing crunch mirrors an affordability drop statewide. For the state as a whole, only 17% of households could afford a median-priced home of $200,784 in April, down from 18% in March.

“The entry-level homeownership market has been crippled by more than a year of escalating home prices and six months of rising mortgage interest rates,” said Joel Singer, the association’s chief economist.

Following close behind San Francisco as a house-hunter’s nightmare was the Ventura area, where only 11% of households could afford the median-priced home of $249,847. In Los Angeles and Orange counties, just 14% of households earned enough to qualify for a median-priced home of $215,871 and $243,485, respectively.