HOW DO THEY AFFORD IT?

The San Francisco Chronicle asks the loaded question and the answer isn't pretty?

The housing market is red-hot in the Bay Area. So, who's buying those pricey homes -- and how are they able to do it? The answers: Young professionals. Riskier loans. Longer commutes. Smaller houses. And, in some cases, a lot of peanut butter and jelly..

With Hayes Valley condos selling for $750,000 and Livermore tract homes fetching $1.3 million, the question is on everyone's lips: Who's paying these stratospheric prices?

The answer, increasingly, is young professionals who are devoting exorbitant portions of their incomes to housing, according to a new study.

"It's painful, more painful than I thought it was going to be," said Kris Crichton, who bought a $640,000 condo in San Francisco's SoMa neighborhood using $50,000 in equity from a home she owned with her former husband and an interest-only loan for part of the mortgage. "I'm eating ramen and PB&J every day, but at least I have a house."