Majority of Californians make less than half the income needed to buy a home - Yahoo! News

California households are making less than half the income necessary to buy a median-priced home in the first quarter of 2005.Statewide households, with a median household income of $53,540, are $60,380 short of the $113,920 qualifying income needed to purchase a median-priced home at $488,600 in California, according to the California Association of Realtors (C.A.R.) Homebuyer Income Gap Index (HIGI) report for the first quarter of 2005...For Southern California, the median-priced home was $477,660, which required a qualifying income of $111,370 to make the monthly PITI payment of $2,780. However, the median household income for Southern California was $52,050, leaving an income shortfall of $59,320.
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Wow. As Fred Pilot points out, this could monkey wrench the HOA boom in California. With condos now averaging over 350K in the San Fernando Valley and San Diego, even those glorified apartments are out of reach for people making the median income.