Julie Lynem: Affordable doesn’t mean low prices - Local - San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo County is making some inroads in housing affordability, at least in a small way.
It moved from the nation’s second to the third least affordable metropolitan area in the fourth quarter of last year, edged out only by San Francisco and New York, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index.
But that news gives Jerry Rioux, executive director of the nonprofit San Luis Obispo County Housing Trust Fund, little reason to celebrate. “More people can afford to buy, but compared to where it should be, we’re still horrible,’’ he said.
Roughly 20 percent of homes sold in the fourth quarter were affordable to a family earning the median income of $67,000 considering a median home sale price of $376,000, according to the index.
