L.A. housing still nation's least affordable

The L.A. Daily News reports:

The Los Angeles metropolitan area remained the nation's least affordable housing market for the sixth consecutive quarter in the final three months of last year, a trade association said Thursday.

In the Los Angeles/Glendale/Long Beach area, just 2.3 percent of the homes sold in the 2005 fourth quarter were affordable to families earning the median income of $54,500, according to the Washington, D.C.-based National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index.

By comparison, 90.4 percent of the homes sold in the Davenport, Iowa, area _tops in the nation - were affordable to residents earning the median income there of $57,800.

Price explains why. The median home price in Los Angeles hit $500,000 in the fourth quarter versus $89,000 in Davenport.

Nationally, just 41 percent of the homes sold were affordable to families earning the median income, a record low.

It is not surprising that this measure of housing hit all time lows because prices hit record levels last year in many areas of the county, including Los Angeles.

The most affordable major metro area was Indianapolis, where 88.7 percent of the homes sold were affordable to families earning the median income of $64,000. The median price, the point at which half the units cost more and half less, was $120,000.

You'll want to read this whole article.Some places want middle class people and some don't.