In Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, housing affordability has significantly declined. According to a recent report by the local think tank Joint Venture Silicon Valley, just one out of every 805 homes on the market is affordable for families making $100,000 annually.
A significant rise in housing costs over the past two decades has resulted in a decline in the affordability of local dwellings. According to the report, rising prices have made homeownership disparities between various racial and ethnic groups worse, which has a big impact on first-time buyers.
The results show that the affordability drop is widespread throughout California and the Bay Area, with different localities facing the difficulties of a constrained housing market.
According to the report, the median price of single-family homes in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties is more than four times the median home sale price in the United States, which is $416,700, and more than twice the median home price in the state, which is $868,100.
In September 2024, the typical home sale price in Santa Clara County was $1.9 million, while in San Mateo County, it was $2.1 million, according to data from the California Association of Realtors.
According to the association’s estimates, buyers must earn at least $214,800 per year in order to buy a median home in the broader Bay Area. The qualifying yearly income level in the counties of San Mateo and Santa Clara is more than $500,000. The average household income in the area is $149,600, per the most recent report from Joint Venture’s Silicon Valley Index.
Across the end, the paper emphasizes how these differences are noticeable across California’s different marketplaces.
