Bay Area Buyers Locked Out

A new study by the California Association of Realtors puts the Bay Area's affordability problems in stark relief, as fewer than 20 percent of residents can afford to buy a home there.

Job growth is still strong in the Bay Area while inventory remains slim, and interest rates continue to rise, all coalescing into market conditions "pretty darn close," to the worst Dave Walsh, vice president of Alain Pinel Realtors in San Jose, Calif. has ever seen. Nationally, more than 50 percent of households can afford the average home price of $269,000. In California, a record low 26 percent of residents can afford its average home, and in the Bay Area, residents would have to earn about $220,000 annually to be able to afford the median home, priced at $1.04 million, The Mercury News reports, per CAR data. “We’re at crisis levels now,” says Walsh. “We must do something. We no longer have an option of just thinking about it.”

The Bay Area continues to lead the state in shattered home-ownership dreams. The run-up in prices has proven a spectacular investment for homeowners, even as many newcomers feel locked out. Median sale prices for Bay Area homes have increased every month over the previous year for a record six straight years. It’s led to an exodus from the area — only to be replaced by even more newcomers — and calls for housing reform in Sacramento and in city councils across the region.

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