Where Fresno ranks on Housing Affordability Index

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- The online real estate search portal RealtyHop also tracks trends.

In its latest Housing Affordability Index, Fresno ranked 41st among big cities in the US.

Sacramento, in the 44th position, was slightly rated as the more affordable city.

"Fresno's right near the middle of the pack, to be honest," says RealtyHop CEO Lee Lin. "I think we're seeing the cities where affordability is getting absolutely awful are exactly these areas where people who have a lot of savings or wealth can just come in and keep bidding up real estate."

Lin says real estate investors continue to find Fresno appealing because of lower home prices compared to the rest of the state.

"With our study, we look at the income of the area, so we look at median Fresno incomes and median Fresno home prices," Lin said.

The median price of a home was listed at $374,000. Fresno's median household income is about $64,000.

RealtyHop calculated Fresno home buyers would need to spend 41% of their annual income to buy a house.

"That's a little on the high side, to be honest," Lin said. "So it is trickling up, which is not great."

Lin says loan officers prefer buyers take steps to lower their debt to income level.

"They tend to use what they call the 'front ratio,' which is just the mortgage and the house that you're trying to buy, should not be more than 33%," Lin said.

When you add your 'back ratio,' including debt from credit cards and cars, Lin says you don't want that number to top 40% of your annual income.

Twelve of the top 20 cities on that Housing Affordability Index were in California.

Los Angeles, Miami and Irvine went one, two and three among the least affordable cities.

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