If home prices and mortgage interest rates were the only things to consider, this would be a terrific time to buy a home in the Northern San Joaquin Valley.
Stanislaus County has set a record for home affordability. More than 89 percent of the homes sold during July, August and September were statistically affordable for average-income Stanislaus families.
That's never happened before, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index.
San Joaquin County (84.2 percent) and Merced County (87.6 percent) also set affordability records on that index, which has tracked sales prices, income levels and mortgage rates for 20 years.
Back when the region's housing prices were peaking in 2005, just 3 percent of Stanislaus homes were considered affordable. That's when the median home price reached $396,000.
You could buy three houses for that amount now.
The median-priced Stanislaus home sold in October was just $129,500. That's 7.5 percent less than what homes sold for a year ago, according to DataQuick sales statistics.
Stanislaus houses now sell for about the same price as they did back in the spring of 2000.
In calculating its affordability index, Wells Fargo estimated the average Stanislaus family earns about $61,100 per year. During the spring of 2000, by contrast, the average family earned $43,900, so only about 52 percent of the homes sold then were considered affordable.
Nationwide, the affordability index reached a near-record 72.9 percent during the third quarter of this year.
It's much higher in some communities.
In Fairbanks, Alaska, for example, 97.8 percent of homes sold were affordable for average-income families. The typical family there, however, earns $91,700 per year.
Bee staff writer J.N. Sbranti can be reached at jnsbranti@modbee.com or (209) 578-2196.
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