Good news, Eric Garcetti! LA's already well on its way to becoming the unaffordable playground for the rich you so admire on the East Coast. In August we learned that only 37 percent of LA families could afford to buy a median-priced home in the county. Now comes an even grimmer statistic from the LA Times (courtesy Trulia): a household that earns the county's median income can afford only 24 percent of homes on the market today. That's way way down from last year, when 39 percent were affordable, and even less affordable than the New York metro area. The San Gabriel Valley and the Westside are among the priciest places in the county--only 12 and 16 percent of homes are affordable there, respectively. In central LA it jumps to 30 percent. And then there's always Lancaster. The numbers come from a new study by real estate site Trulia, which took the area's median income--$53,001 last year--and figured that would allow a buyer to spend $271,000 on a house (assuming they put 20 percent down). That was never going to buy you a castle in LA, but it gets you even less after a year of soaring prices. "The housing recovery has benefited some people more than others. A lot of the income gains in recent years have gone to the top percentage of households," Trulia's chief economist said. Which is great, because if any segment of society should enjoy the potential social, community, and economic benefits of homeownership, it's the rich.
· L.A. County is among least affordable housing markets [LAT]
· Affordability Archives [Curbed LA]
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