Least Affordable Housing

The bottom may have fallen out of the housing market across much of America, but that doesn’t mean every city or metropolitan area is rife with bargains. While what was expensive six months ago may not be quite as pricey these days, “cheap” remains a relative term.

What are the least affordable housing markets in the U.S.? BusinessWeek decided to find out. Using data from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index, cities were ranked based on the share of homes sold in the second quarter of 2008 that would have been in the price range for a family (a) earning the local median income, and (b) willing to devote 28 percent of its gross income to housing.

Here’s the list:

  1. New York-White Plains-Wayne, N.Y.-N.J.

  2. San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, Calif.

  3. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, Calif.

  4. Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, Fla.

  5. Nassau-Suffolk, N.Y.

  6. Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine, Calif.

  7. Newark-Union, N.J.-Pa.

  8. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif.

  9. Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, Calif.

10. Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, Wash.

To check out the statistics and see a slideshow of these expensive towns, visit BusinessWeek. If you are looking for something a bit more modest, you can also find a list of the Most Affordable Housing Markets.