Talking Points …

  • California housing affordability improved from third-quarter 2014 but dipped when compared to a year ago, as lower interest rates failed to offset higher home prices, according to the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (C.A.R.).
  • The percentage of home buyers who could afford to purchase a median-priced, existing single-family home in California in fourth-quarter 2014 edged up to 31 percent from the 30 percent recorded in the third quarter of 2014 but was down from a revised 32 percent in fourth-quarter 2013, according to C.A.R.’s Traditional Housing Affordability Index.
  • This is the seventh consecutive quarter that the index was below 40 percent and is near the mid-2008 level of 29 percent.  California’s housing affordability index hit a peak of 56 percent in the first quarter of 2012. Home buyers needed to earn a minimum annual income of $91,550 to qualify for the purchase of a $452,140 statewide median-priced, existing single-family home in the fourth quarter of 2014.