House Poor in California

Here's a stat I picked up from the current issue of Business Week that just blew me away:

Nearly one in five California home buyers spends at least half of income on housing.

Households spending more than 50% of income on housing in 2003:

California: 19%
Rest of U.S.: 9%

A few comments:

• 50% of spending on housing leaves very, very little remaining for other expenses.
• If it was 19% in 2003, who knows how bad it is in 2005.
• All you people in California who can't afford a house -- it's a big country out here. You can move almost anywhere else in the U.S. and pay substantially less.

Comments

[carl estep]

Money does not make a person happy , but it does contributes to his happiness. As for the fraudulent prices homebuyers are facing in california and other areas of the country , it never ceases to appall me as to how the aristocracy can blatantly get away with the deliberate exploitation of the masses !