Higher wages and lower seasonal home prices combined to push California’s housing affordability higher in the first quarter of 2018 compared to the previous quarter, the California Association of Realtors said today. The percentage of home buyers who could afford to purchase a median-priced, existing single-family home in the state in the first quarter edged up to 31 percent. A minimum annual income of $111,500 was needed to qualify for the purchase of a $538,640 median-priced home.
In the San Francisco Bay Area, strong wage growth pushed affordability higher in six of the nine Bay Area counties, including Contra Costa where the median home price is $615,000, CAR reports.