Tuesday, May. 19, 2009
Biz Buzz: Realtor association says county housing is more affordable
Comments (0) | 
E-Mail
Print
tool name
closeThe percentage of households that could afford to buy an entry-level home in San Luis Obispo County rose to 49 percent in the first quarter of this year, according to the California Association of Realtors first-time buyer housing affordability index.
That’s compared to 33 percent in the same quarter a year ago and 47 percent of households in the fourth quarter of 2008.
The median price of an entry-level home in the county was $306,570 in the first quarter of 2009.
To buy a home at that price, a household would need a minimum qualifying income of $54,810 and to be able to afford a monthly payment, including taxes and insurance, of $1,830.
Entry-level housing affordability in California reached 69 percent in the first quarter of the year, compared to 46 percent in the first quarter of last year.
The median price of an entry-level home statewide was $214,040 in the first quarter, and the minimum household income needed to buy such a home was $38,090.
While home prices are falling here, home-buying continues to be out of reach for many local residents.
The San Luis Obispo County region was the least affordable in California, followed by Orange County at 56 percent.
The High Desert region was the most affordable at 83 percent of households, followed by Sacramento County.
— Julie Lynem
SLO’s economy is focus of luncheon
A forecast for the city of San Luis Obispo’s economy will be examined at a special luncheon slated for May 29. Mark Schniepp of the California Economic Forecast is the featured speaker. He is a consulting economist to Caltrans and the UCLA Anderson Forecast.
A panel discussion will also be held to discuss the economy’s highlights and trends.
Participating will be Carrol Pruett, director, Rabobank; Robert Koob, provost, Cal Poly; Bob Wacker, president, Wacker & Associates, a financial services firm; Dave Mullinax, public relations manager, League of California Cities; Kris Yetter, president, Promega Biosciences; and Michael Gunther, president, Collaboration LLC.
Those attending will also receive a 36-page booklet with economic data focused on San Luis Obispo.
The event is set for noon to 2 p.m. at Grace Church, Pismo and Osos streets in San Luis Obispo.
Tickets are $60 per person for members of the San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce, $80 for nonmembers. They must be purchased by Friday.
To make reservations, go to www.slochamber.org.
— Tad Weber
What you should know about comments on SanLuisObispo.com
SanLuisObispo.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. See our full terms of service here.
Here are some rules of the road:
- Keep your comments civil. Don't insult one another or the subjects of our articles. If you think a comment violates our guidelines click the "report abuse" button. Responding to the comment will only encourage bad behavior.
- Don't use profanities, vulgarities or hate speech. This is a general interest news site. Sometimes, there are children present. Don't say anything in a way you wouldn't want your own child to hear.
- Do not attack other users; focus your comments on issues, not individuals.
- Stay on topic. Only post comments relevant to the article at hand. If you want to discuss an issue with a specific user, click on his profile name and leave him a public message.
- Do not copy and paste outside material into the comment box.
- Don't repeat the same comment over and over. We heard you the first time.
- Do not use the commenting system for advertising. That's spam and it isn't allowed.
- Don't use all capital letters. That's akin to yelling and not appreciated by the audience.
You should also know that The Tribune does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "report abuse" button to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at webmaster@sanluisobispo.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.
If you submit a comment, the username of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them, but you may ask our staff to retract one of your comments by sending an email to webmaster@sanluisobispo.com. Again, make sure you note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us your profile name.
About comments
Reader comments on SanLuisObispo.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Tribune. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "report abuse" button below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.