THE DOWNSIDE TO THE HOT HOUSING MARKET

Tucson home buyers priced out
Local families left in lurch as pay lags behind rising costs
By Joseph Barrios
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
http://www.dailystar.com/dailystar/dailystar/75237.php


If you're looking for an "affordable" home in Tucson today, good luck. Soaring home costs have priced at least 1,000 families out of the local housing market in the past year, according to economists with the National Association of Home Builders.

Local home prices are rising much faster than local incomes, leaving many potential buyers worrying that their dream is slipping away. So competition for homes - especially lower-priced ones - is fierce.
Pima County's median income - the point at which half of all incomes are above and half are below - hasn't kept pace with the area's rapidly rising housing prices. Median income fell 1.5 percent from 2002 to 2003, while the median home price jumped 7.9 percent.

It's even worse now: As of last month, the median home price in Pima County for new and previously owned homes was $184,609. That's up 18 percent from March 2004, when the price was $156,398.

That increase means at least 1,000 households were priced out of the market and unable to buy a home, said Elliot Eisenberg, an economist with the National Association of Home Builders. Add another $5,000 to March's $184,609 median price, and another 4,400 households would not qualify for a mortgage, according to the home builders' association "priced out" calculators.