SAN FRANCISCO— The National Association of Home Builders listed San Jose and San Francisco as improved market for homes regions, although from a homebuilders’ perspective. The ranking comes after the results showing the areas where the markets for homes have improved. This, however, does not save the city of San Francisco from being considered the second city in the country providing the least affordable housing. This is the result of a report by NAHB from November 15 of this year. San Jose on the other hand, earned the eighth place on the least with least affordable housing on a separate ranking list.
New York still surpasses San Francisco as the most expensive place to live due to its high-priced housing market. There is a lower salary rate in New York; the average household income being $68,300 while the average cost for a home is $455,000. In the case of San Francisco, Redwood and San Mateo City in California, the average family income is $103,000 while the housing costs is $659,000. San Francisco also experienced a low point with its permits on February 28, 2009, since then it had a 2.5 percent increase. On the job market, the proportion increased to 4.2 percent and prices rose 9.6 percent. Even with all these, the NAHB concludes that it is easier for a 31.4 percent of people in San Francisco to purchase a home, as opposed to in New York, with a 28.5 percent. There are three areas, which are components in determining which area has experienced “improving markets”: new employment opportunities, housing price appreciation and permit increase from the United States Census Bureau. Considering the three categories used by NAHB, since January 31, 2012 San Jose increased its permits to 5.7 percent, 9.3 percent growth in employment and 8.1 percent in the area of price ranges.
Surrounding areas such as San Jose (including Sunnyvale and Santa Clara) earned the 8th place for least affordable housing. Its average household income is $105,000 and a home costs on average $530,000. Oakland (including Hayward and Fremont) are placed on the 24th spot for least affordable housing. The average income is $93,500 and the cost to buy a home is $329,000 on average as well.
