Given yesterday's Ask Curbed about the future of rents, here's a related NY Times story on how Californian are forking over more of their paychecks on mortgages/rent. California leads the nation: 22 percent of homeowners and 27 percent of renters spent more than half their income on housing last year. And 52 percent of our mortgage holders pay at least 30 percent of their incomes for housing. And our sunny state is helping lead the country in foreclosures--woo-hoo!
Best quote from the story: “Maybe it all means that housing is not as smart an investment for as many people as we thought,” said Matt Fellowes, a scholar in metropolitan policy at the Brookings Institution. “Stocks perform better than houses over time. Maybe the American dream should be building wealth in general, not building a certain type of wealth, which we see is narrow and dangerous.” Hasn't investing in any one thing always been narrow and dangerous, Matt?
· Housing Costs Consumed More of Paychecks in 2006 [NY Times]
· Ask Curbed: How's the Market Gonna Affect Rents? [Curbed LA]