Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 11, 1995 TAG: 9510110057
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
New York City's housing ranked among the least affordable in a recent national survey. The state of New York, however, had more markets among the 25 most affordable than any other state, including the two most affordable of all.
California had 11 metropolitan areas among the 25 least affordable, including last-place San Francisco. No California city was in the 25 most affordable.
The National Association of Home Builders said Tuesday that Binghamton, N.Y., topped its Housing Opportunity Index during the April-June quarter. Neighboring Elmira was second.
``These New York metro areas have what it takes to provide affordable housing - reasonable incomes and home prices that are low because land is plentiful,'' explained Jim Irvine, a Portland, Ore., builder and the association president.
The index measures the proportion of homes sold in a specific market that an area family earning the median income could afford. The median is the midpoint, meaning half the families earn more and half earn less.
As usual, the survey found the most affordable areas in the Midwest and the least affordable in the West.
Twelve of the 25 most affordable markets were in the Midwest, including three each in Illinois and Indiana and two each in Ohio and Minnesota. Minneapolis and Kansas City were the only two top-25 areas with more than 1 million residents.
Seven of the most affordable were in the Northeast, including five - Binghamton, Elmira, Utica, Jamestown and Syracuse - in New York. Six were in the South.
The West had 17 of the 25 least affordable markets. The South had three and the Northeast had five, among the 187 markets in the survey.
Binghamton, a metropolitan area of more than 250,000 people in southern New York near the Pennsylvania border, scored 86.9 on the Home Builders index. That meant a family there earning the median income of $39,900 could have purchased 86.9 percent of the homes sold during the quarter.
San Francisco, on the other hand, was 18.9, meaning a family earning the median income of $58,800 could afford to purchase just 18.9 percent of the homes sold.
The latest survey also found San Francisco had the highest median price in the nation, $283,000. That was more than five times the lowest price, $56,000 in Jamestown, N.Y.
By region, the most affordable housing markets were Binghamton in the Northeast; Elkhart, Ind., in the Midwest; Melbourne, Fla., in the South; and Bakersfield, Calif., in the West.
Nationally, a family earning the median income of $40,200 could afford 60.5 percent of the homes sold during the quarter, down from 61.2 percent from January through March.
by CNB