Higher home prices drive down housing affordability during second quarter

Significantly higher home prices, particularly in the San Francisco Bay Area and coastal regions, shut out more home buyers in the state during the second quarter of 2013, C.A.R. reported this week.

The percentage of home buyers who could afford to purchase a median-priced, existing single-family home in California dropped to 36 percent in the second quarter of 2013, down from 44 percent in first-quarter 2013 and from 51 percent in second-quarter 2012, according to C.A.R.’s Traditional Housing Affordability Index (HAI). The second quarter 2013 figure fell below 40 percent for the first time since the third quarter of 2008.

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