Median-Priced Homes Within Reach of 21%

The number of Orange County residents able to buy a median-priced home grew to 21% in December, up 7% from a year earlier, a real estate trade group reported Monday.

The affordability rate means that 21% of the county’s residents could qualify to purchase a home in December that sold for a median price of $229,120. At the December price, a minimum income of $74,020 was necessary to make monthly payments of $1,850.

The county affordability rate matched the statewide rate of 21% for December, 1990, which was improved from 19% in December, 1989, according to the California Assn. of Realtors.

The increased affordability of housing comes at a time when the California housing market, the nation’s largest, has been in a slump for more than a year and a half without much hope for a quick turnaround. Potential buyers first became skittish because of high prices in the urban coastal areas and then because of the slowing economy and the Persian Gulf War.

The realtors group said that as of December, 21% of the state’s households took in the minimum annual income of $62,330 needed to afford the monthly mortgage payments of $1,560 on a median-priced home, which sold for $192,930.

Affordability improved in most regions of the state, which saw a 17.1% decline in existing home sales last year and a 30% decline in permits for new housing.

Affordability in Orange County posted the biggest gain, while Ventura County jumped to 16% from 11% and the San Francisco Bay Area rose to 15% from 11%.