A study shows housing more affordable, but many workers still priced out of housing market

Study: Many workers facing high housing costs

LOS ANGELES — Housing has become more affordable for police officers, teachers and other workers, but homeownership remains out of their reach in many major markets, according to a new study.

The report released Tuesday by the Center for Housing Policy concluded incomes for many workers have not kept pace with the cost of housing.

“Homeownership is getting more affordable, but it’s still high for the wages of some occupations,” said Maya Brennan, senior research associate with the Washington D.C.-based center, which is the research affiliate of the National Housing Conference.

Researchers found that the income required to own a home fell in 193 out of 207 markets they analyzed, largely due to lower mortgage interest rates and home price declines.

The median decline in the amount of income needed to afford a home was 9.1 percent, but it fell by 20 percent or more in 22 markets, half of them in Florida, the study found.

Renters saw their monthly payments increased moderately as many homeowners lost their home to foreclosure and drove up demand for rental apartments. The median increase in rent for a two-bedroom apartment, for example, edged up 2.8 percent between 2008 and 2009, the study found.

For some community workers, such as police officers, the decline in housing costs has made homeownership affordable in more cities.

Researchers found that police officers earning around $50,000 a year could afford to buy a home in 122 of the metro areas in the study in 2009, or 37 more cities than in the prior year.

Elementary school teachers, which the study estimates earn comparable salaries to police officers, could afford to buy a home in 33 more metro areas.

But nurses, janitors, retail workers and others earning less than $50,000 a year remained priced out in a majority of the housing markets, researchers said.

“Retail sales people can’t afford (rent on) a typical two-bedroom apartment in any one of these markets,” Brennan said. “They need to have another wage earner in the household or try to squeeze a family into a one-bedroom, if that’s even affordable.”

The study’s findings are based on an analysis of housing costs in more than 200 markets and wages across more than 60 occupations. Researchers drew upon data for home prices in 2009 and fair market rents to gauge how housing costs changed since 2008.

The study defines an affordable home as one that takes up no more than 28 percent of household income and requires no more than a 10 percent down payment. It considers rents that don’t exceed 30 percent of household income affordable.

On the Net:

National Housing Conference: www.nhc.org