SAN DIEGO — Americans know that homes across the county are expensive, but a new study shows just how out of reach houses are in San Diego County.
According to Visual Capitalist, San Diego is the third most expensive city when it comes to purchasing a home.
With a median price of $905,000, you need a household income of $166,828 to afford it.
“Not a lot of people are going to be in that category,” said University of San Diego Economics Professor, Alan Gin. “Even if they have two incomes in their households.”
Gin says the median household income in San Diego is around $83,000, which is less than half of what you'd need to own the median priced house.
San Jose topped the list of salary needed to own a home and San Francisco came in second. But Gin says home ownership in those cities is more affordable than San Diego.
“While we may be third in terms of prices of houses, our income levels here tend to be lower than say, in the Bay Area, Silicon Valley,” said Gin.
Realtor Frank Powell showed CBS 8 a Bay Park home with what many would call, “a million-dollar view,” but, you’d still be off by more than a million dollars.
Powell, who is also president-elect of the San Diego Association of Realtors, knows it’s a house very few San Diegans can actually afford.
“We haven't seen a big slump in the market like people are anticipating,” said Powell.
So how do you make housing more affordable in San Diego?
“Build, build, build,” said Powell. “If we want to solve this cause, as long as there's no supply and increased demand, like any other product on the market, it's going to continuously go up.”
Gin agrees that lack of supply is an issue. And while some people believe rising interest rates will force housing prices down, he doubts they will drop a lot because, to those Bay Area people making all that money, we're a bargain and a better place to live.
“Even if housing prices fall here in San Diego, that means it's going to make it more affordable…that means even more people will want to move out here,” said Gin.
By the way, that study found Pittsburgh was the most affordable city. With a median home price of $185,700 you would only need a household income of $42,858 to afford it.
WATCH RELATED: What $1,500 a month in housing can get you in San Diego County (July 2022)