Hefty price tags are putting Bay Area homes out of reach for more buyers, with three of our local counties ranking as California’s least affordable in the second quarter. 
According to data obtained from the California Association of Realtors, 20 percent of residents across the nine-county region could afford a single-family home, down from 23 percent in the first quarter and 25 percent in the second quarter of 2013.
This closely mirrored second-quarter trends observed across the state, where the amount of residents who could afford a home declined to 30 percent, down from 33 percent in the previous quarter and 36 percent a year earlier.
Marin, San Francisco, and San Mateo were in a three-way tie for the least affordable of the 26 California counties in which CAR provided breakout data, with 14 percent of residents able to purchase a home. Affordability declined from the first quarter 1 percent in Marin and San Francisco counties while holding steady in San Mateo County.
Affordability decreased or remained static across every Bay Area county on both a quarterly and annual basis. Alameda County tied Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz counties as the second quarter’s second-least affordable, with 18 percent of residents able to purchase a home.
Local residents needed to earn about $158,000 per year in order to afford the median second-quarter home price of $769,590. Bay Area homebuyers could expect to shell out $3,940 in monthly payments, including taxes and insurance.
Bay Area counties took the top six spots for highest median second-quarter home prices, with both San Mateo and Marin counties eclipsing the $1 million mark. They were followed by San Francisco ($963,540), Santa Clara ($899,500), Contra Costa ($760,830), and Alameda ($737,390) counties.
(Photo: Flickr/NoHoDamon)