California Housing Affordability Falls to 16-Year Low

With borrowing costs reaching all-time highs and home prices continuing to climb, California housing affordability declined for the second straight quarter and dropped to the lowest level since 2007, the California Association of Realtors (C.A.R.) said Friday.

Just 15% of home buyers could afford to purchase a median-priced, existing single-family home in California in third-quarter 2023, down from 16% in Q2 and down from 18% a year ago, according to C.A.R.’s Traditional Housing Affordability Index. The Q3 2023 figure is less than a third of the affordability index peak high of 56% in Q1 2012.

Compared with California, more than a third of the nation’s households could afford to purchase a $406,900 median-priced home, which required a minimum annual income of $106,800 to make monthly payments of $2,670, according to C.A.R. Nationwide affordability in Q3 was down from 39% a year ago.

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About Paul Bubny

Paul Bubny serves as Senior Content Director for Connect Commercial Real Estate, a role to which he brings 16-plus years’ experience covering the commercial real estate industry and 30-plus years in business-to-business journalism. In this capacity, he oversees daily operations while also reporting on both local/regional markets and national trends, covering individual transactions across all property types, as well as delving into broader subject matter. He produces 7-10 daily news stories per day and works with the Connect team and clients to develop longer-form content, ranging from Q&As to thought-leadership pieces. Prior to joining Connect, Paul was Managing Editor for both Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com at American Lawyer Media, where he oversaw operations at both publications while also producing daily news and feature-length articles. His tenure in B2B publishing stretches back into the print era, and he has served as Editor in Chief on four national trade publications. Since 1999, Paul has volunteered as the newsletter editor of passenger rail advocacy groups (one national, one local).

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