California housing affordability remains stuck at just 19%

California’s housing market remains a brutal nightmare for buyers, with ordinary families needing a staggering $228,000 annual income just to afford a typical home.

A measly 19% of households could afford a median-priced, existing single-family home in the Golden State during the third quarter, according to figures released Friday by the California Association of Realtors.

The dismal affordability rate was unchanged from the previous quarter and the same period last year, offering little relief to Californians hoping to buy a piece of the American Dream.

Even as home prices dipped, higher mortgage rates kept the cost of buying painfully high, leaving would-be homeowners facing enormous monthly payments.

The minimum qualifying household income needed to purchase a median-priced California home hit $228,000 in the third quarter, unchanged from the previous quarter and $4,400 higher than a year earlier.

Buyers also faced a monthly mortgage bill of $5,700, including principal, interest, taxes and insurance. That figure was flat from the second quarter but up 2% year over year.

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California’s monthly housing payment remained more than twice the national average of $2,760, according to C.A.R.

And the affordability crunch shows little sign of easing. The income required to buy a typical California home has topped $200,000 in 15 of the past 16 quarters.

Mortgage rates could remain elevated over the coming months, with inflation likely to stay high in the near term, further squeezing the purchasing power of prospective buyers, the association warned.

The numbers were especially punishing across Southern California, where home prices and the salaries needed to keep up varied sharply by county.

In the Los Angeles metro area, an existing single-family home carried a median price tag of $847,030 in the third quarter, requiring a monthly mortgage payment of $5,390 and a minimum qualifying household income of $215,600.

The price was even steeper in Los Angeles County, where homes cost a median $958,450. Buyers needed to earn at least $244,000 annually to handle monthly payments of $6,100.

Orange County was in another league entirely, with a typical single-family home costing $1.47 million.

Prospective buyers there needed a jaw-dropping $374,400 in annual household income to qualify, with monthly mortgage payments reaching $9,360.