Housing affordability for all Californians deteriorated in 2022 as home prices set record highs and interest rates surged, according to a new report out from the California Association of Realtors.
About one in five of all Californians earned enough income to support the purchase of an $822,320 statewide median-priced home in 2022, down from just over one in four from 2021. And the affordability gap for Black and Hispanic/Latino households remains wide throughout the state.
According to CAR, with 20 percent down, a minimum income of $186,800 was needed to make monthly payments, including principal, interest, and taxes on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage. That means just 21 percent of all Californians earned the minimum income needed to purchase a home in 2022, down from 27 percent in 2021.
Of the major regions for which CAR tracks affordability by ethnicity, the affordability gap between Black and the overall population in 2022 was the largest in Contra Costa, Kern and Santa Clara counties, with each registering a gap of -14 percent. Other counties that had a double-digit affordability gap for Black households include San Francisco (-12 percent), Alameda (-11 percent), San Diego (-11 percent) and Sacramento (-11 percent).
For Hispanic/Latino households, the affordability gap was the biggest in Santa Clara (-12 percent), Contra Costa (-11 percent), Ventura (-9 percent) and San Diego (-9 percent). The least affordable county in 2022 for Hispanic/Latino homebuyers was Orange County at 8 percent, and the most affordable was Kern at 32 percent.
For Asian households, Orange County was also the least affordable, with 15 percent earning the minimum income required to buy a median-price home. Kern was the most affordable county with 54 percent of Asian households having the minimum income required to buy a median-priced home.
San Mateo was the least affordable county for White households, with 14 percent earning the minimum income required to buy a median-price home. Fresno was the most affordable at 48 percent.