The Lawhead Team’s latest from the North San Diego County Association of Realtors® on housing affordability for North San Diego County homes.

Housing Affordability – Single-Family Detached Homes

• The monthly payment – including principal, interest, property taxes, and insurance – for the median-priced SFD home in North San Diego County decreased, to $2,828 in March 2014 (based on a conventional mortgage) from $2,913 in February 2014.  The monthly payment for the median-priced SFD home in non-North San Diego County increased, to $2,288 in March 2014 from $2,214 in February 2014.
• The percent of San Diego County households that could afford the median-priced SFD home in North County increased to 27 percent in March 2014, from 26 percent in February 2014, according to the North San Diego County HomeDex; the affordability percentage decreased in non-North County zip codes, from 38 percent in February 2014 to 36 percent in March 2014.
• The affordability percentage was 31 percent in North San Diego County, and 44 percent in non-North San Diego County in March 2013.
• The HomeDexTM affordability percentage for all homes in North San Diego County – single-family detached and single-family attached together – remained 33 percent in March 2014.

Housing Affordability – Single-Family Attached Homes

• The monthly payment – including principal, interest, property taxes, and insurance – for the median-priced SFA home in North County decreased, from $1,657 in February 2014 to $1,642 in March 2014.  The monthly payment for the median-priced SFA home in non-North San Diego County zip codes decreased, from $1,522 in February 2014 to $1,478 in March 2014.
• The percent of San Diego County households able to afford the median-priced SFA home in North County remained at 52 percent in March 2014.
• The SFA home affordability level for non-North San Diego County zip code increased, from 55 percent in February 2014 to 57 percent in March 2014.
• 55 percent of county households were able to afford the median-priced SFA home in North San Diego County in March 2013, and 62 percent were able to afford the median-priced SFA home in non-North County zip codes.

The Lawhead Team came across a great article from USA TODAY about the recent inventory of homes for sale growing – a plus for home buyers!

More homes being listed for sale expand buyers‘ choices and may help to moderate price increases.

Julie Schmit, USA TODAY 9:04 a.m. EDT August 13, 2013

More homes are coming on the market, which is a good sign for buyers.

In July, the inventory of homes for sale nationwide was only down 5.2% from a year ago, Realtor.com says.

That’s an improvement from January, when for sale inventories were down 16% from the year before, according to Realtor.com.

More markets are also seeing inventories grow.

The for-sale inventory for buyers was up year-over-year in 25 markets in July, compared to just seven in April, Realtor.com says.

Three of those were Riverside, Calif., where inventories were up 26% year over year; Atlanta, up almost 18%; and Sacramento, Calif., up almost 17%.

All three cities have seen rapid price appreciation in the past year, in part because of super tight inventories.

“Larger inventories, especially in the hotter markets that experienced rapid price increases in the spring, are expanding buyers‘ choices and helping to moderate price increases,” says Steve Berkowitz, CEO of Move, which operates Realtor.com.

The national median list price increased 5.3% in July year over year, Realtor.com says.

Home prices were up 11.9% in June year over year, according to the latest data from market researcher CoreLogic.

The supply of homes for sale in June changed only a little.

In June, the supply stood at 5.2 months, the National Association of Realtors says, up from 5 months in May.

That means at June’s sales pace, all homes would sell in that time frame if no new inventory was added.

Inventory conditions will continue to broadly favor sellers for months and contribute to above normal price growth, the National Association of Realtors has said.

Check out complete article here:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/08/13/july-for-sale-home-inventory/2645411/