Long Island was south of San Francisco, north of New York City and right above a California town called El Centro.
“What is this?” you might ask.
It’s the "housing opportunity index” of homes sold -- basically a barometer of affordability -- compiled by the National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo. The index takes into account the area’s median incomes, median home price and mortgage rates, then calculates what percentage of the population can afford the housing.
Nationwide in the third quarter of the year, housing became slightly more affordable compared with a year ago. But due to mortgage rates that went from 6.44 percent in the second quarter to 6.73 percent in the third quarter, affordability dropped from 43.1 percent to 42 percent in the third quarter.
Out of 215 communities, Nassau and Suffolk tied with Fresno, CA., at No. 203, way down on the affordability scale for the third quarter. With the median sale price of a home at $450,000 and the median family income at $93,800, only 9.5 percent of homes were considered affordable.
Long Island, becoming more urban and less of a bedroom community, was found way below Dallas (87), Chicago (125), Philadelphia (129) and other metro regions.
New York City metro area came in at 209; the median sales prices of homes was $525,000 and the median family income was $59,500, making only 7.1 percent of homes affordable.
But fear not, New York City lovers – Los Angeles held onto its three-year record of being the most unaffordable, major housing market. It was second from the bottom on the entire list. The family median income there was $61,700 and the median sale price was $515,000, making only 3.7 percent of homes sold affordable.
The most affordable community was Kokomo, IN., where 90.5 percent of homes were within reach of families with median income of $59,700. The median sale prices there was $97,000.
Napa, CA., hit bottom. The median family income was $75,800 and the median sales price was $585,00. Only 3.3 percent of the housing was considered affordable.