Housing Affordability Index

[Sanjeev Advani]

The index measures the percentage of households that can afford to purchase entry level homes in CA. We see that as of 2016, CA is less affordable to new home buyers than other parts of the country. For a single family house in CA the average minimum qualifying income is around $64K, while in the US the average minimum income is around $30K. The most affordable counties for first time buyers are Kings and San Bernadino with an average income needed around $29K. The most affordable major markets in CA are Ventura County with an average min. qualifying income at $80K and LA county with minimum qualifying income at $60K. Both of these counties are trending to be less affordable to the first time buyer based on information from Q1 2016 to Q2 2016. For more detailed numbers see the link I've attached below. 

http://www.car.org/marketdata/data/ftbhai/