"By comparing home values, mortgage rates and household incomes, Attom determined the share of income devoured by a home purchase. Splitting those 36 counties into three slices helps show how the homebuying burden has changed from 2025's fourth quarter to Not-so-recent lows in buying's financial burden - a decade-plus ago, just after the Great Recession slashed prices. Yes, affordability may be improving in early 2026, but these figures highlight how far affordability has fallen."
"First, look at California's 12 priciest counties where a median 83% of income went toward the fourth-quarter's $1 million home price. But buying also takes 83% of incomes in the 12 cheapest counties, with a median price of $398,000. Next, ponder a stunning change in this financial stress from its bottom. The median burden in the priciest counties has slightly more than doubled from their median low of a 37% share of income."
Attom data for 36 California counties compares home values, mortgage rates and household incomes to calculate the share of income needed to buy a home. Counties split into three groups show that both the 12 priciest and the 12 cheapest counties now have a median homebuying burden of 83% of income, despite median prices of $1 million and $398,000 respectively. The median burden in priciest counties has slightly more than doubled from a 37% low, while the cheapest counties saw burdens more than quadruple from a 20% low. County-level spikes include Kern, Sacramento, Kings, Shasta and Merced, each showing large percentage increases from their historical lows.
Read at The Mercury News
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