LOCAL : 1 in 7 O.C. Households Could Afford Oct. Median Home Price

For the third consecutive month, only one in seven Orange County households could afford a house at October’s median home price.

That price was $253,034, according to the California Assn. of Realtors. That meant a household needed an annual income of $83,657 to afford the monthly payments of $2,091, the trade association said Monday.

Only 14% of the county’s households earn that much or more.

A year ago, one in five households in the county could afford a median-priced house, which then cost $222,036.

Orange County was not the least affordable of the state’s big housing markets in October. That honor went again to San Francisco and Ventura County, where only 11% of households could afford the median price. That price was $262,271 in San Francisco and $251,364 in Ventura County.

Statewide, 19% of households could afford the median-priced house at $193,557, up from 18% in September.

That does not mean a big improvement, however. It merely reflects the fact that more homes are being sold in lower-priced markets and that fewer homes are being sold in high-priced markets like Orange County, the trade association said.