How Unaffordable Can Real Estate Get?
Before people stop buying it. The New York Times just ran an article on the least affordable places to live in the country, as measured by the ratio of housing prices to income. As a California resident, I was not surprised to learn that the Top 11 most unaffordable places in the country are found in this state; next on the list was New York City at #12.
The data has been graphed and there is a nice map of the country. It seems like the big city metropolitan areas are where most of the unaffordable housing is located. Unfortunately, there is no one explanation for why California is so absurdly overpriced, but some of the reasons given are the growing population, low property taxes, and the high birth/immigration rates.